Sword Art Online: Alex's Adventure-Original Path
by Darkninja20
Summary: Pretty much the way I planned to do the story first, so if you haven't read the other one I suggest you do, or this one will make no sense to you. The first one is called Sword Art Online: Alex's Adventure. Boss ideas being taken!
1. Chapter 1: Decision

**This chapter is starting from when Takumi died, but FlameofHeaven never joined and Dark never became a disciple. Also, It is short.**

Dark and his party get some shocking news.

Chapter 1 Online

Had I heard him right? Did he say that Takumi had been defeated, and half of the Knights along with him? There was no way that it was true…right? I stood there in shock until Sienna tapped my shoulder.

"Dark, are you okay?"

I snapped from my daze "I'm fine…Doran, help me get him into the inn." I motioned for him to come over. He walked over as I lifted the Knight's upper body up and Doran picked up his lower body and we brought him into the inn.

The five of us sat by the Knight as he lies unconscious.

"Do you think it's true?" Lea asked "That half of the Knights were beaten in battle?"

"It's possible." Doran responded.

"It's true." I responded "The wounds he arrived with, the panic in his voice. No one is invincible."

"But Takumi wasn't one to be taken down so easily. He wasn't the leader of the strongest guild." Doran said.

"It's like Dark said, No one is invincible. No matter how strong you are, there's always a chance of being killed, just like in the real world." Sienna said

"At least in the real world it's an accident or sickness!" I shouted angrily "Here…you get slaughtered by monsters created by a psychopath. Akihiko Kayaba." I said surprising myself with my anger, I took a deep breath to calm myself "Which is exactly why we need to get out of here, with the lease amount of deaths possible."

"But we can't rush into things either." Sienna said "Or that will cause more innocent people to die."

"Yeah...careful and quick. That's what we need to be." A groan escaped the Knight and we turned to him as he opened his eyes.

"W-where am I?" He muttered.

"You're in an inn." I told him.

He sat up and looked at me "Dark...Takumi was killed..."

"I know, you said it in town...and half of the Knights as well, correct?"

He nodded "Yes..."

"Did Asuna suffer the same fate?"

He shook his head this time "No. Takumi told her to leave with the rest of the Knights..." he paused and looked at me "You know that Takumi considered you his equal?"

I had a feeling I knew where this was going "I never knew that. I thought he considered me an enemy if anything, not his equal."

"Dark...you're just as strong, if not stronger, then Takumi..."

"You have something to ask. Ask it." Here it comes...

"Will you become the new leader of the Knights Of The Blood Oath?!" There it is.

"No." I answer firmly and quickly, not surprised by his question.

"Why not? We need a new leader to help us avenge Takumi!"

"A boss monster is the enemy that did it, am I right?"

"Yes you are. We only have about half of our members so, please!"

"I already said no. I'm not a guild type of person. I'm not the type of person that could lead a guild."

The Knight looked slightly mad "Fine...just so you know, me and the rest of the Knights decided after Takumi was defeated...We'll going to go and defeat the boss today."

"Do you have a death wish?" I asked looking him in the eyes "That boss already killed Takumi and half of your force, if you guys go and die, the Knights will be non-existent!"

"Our minds are made up. We're going to kill that monster today!" He said getting to his feet and leaving the room.

"Come on." I said taking a teleport crystal out, to return to the house.

We walk in and Doran starts right away.

"Dark, we can't just let them-"

"Doran, there's nothing we can do. If the five of us go and try and help, we'll be killed instantly. I don't like not helping, but I'm not going to risk my life when there is no chance of winning."

"You're just a coward!" Angelica shouted at me "I can't believe how you are acting now! Whenever someone else was in trouble you tried to help, but now you are letting them throw their lifes away?!"

"There's going to be anywhere from 20-40 people there...us five won't make a difference."

"Dark...we should at least try." Sienna said.

"I agree." Lea said.

"This is suicide. If we go to the boss room we will die."

Sienna glared at me "I can't believe you!" She said suddenly angry "You just finished saying in the inn that we had to have the least deaths possible but now you are letting them go to a boss that might kill them!"

"Sienna!" I shout back "Can't you understand I don't want to help them, because in the end it will just lead to more pointless deaths. Our deaths!"

Sienna rose her arm and slapped me across the face "If you come to your senses you know where we will be! Come on." She said taking a teleport crystal out. I shook my head.

"Once you realize it's death awaiting you, I hope you will have the sense to run." I said walking upstairs, and into my room.

Time had passed, maybe half an hour. They were most likely at the boss room at the moment...or possibly dead...but I still couldn't understand why they didn't realize that the boss that killed at least half of the Knights, and Takumi, isn't to be taken lightly. They should have stayed and we could have been able to get more people with us.

"Dammit..." I muttered "Should I have gone too? I won't be able to forgive myself if they die..." I sat up on my bed as a message appeared. I looked at it for a moment, then realizing it might be from one of my party I tapped it and it opened. But it wasn't from any of them...it was from someone else, someone I didn't expect.

**-Meanwhile at the battle-**

The boss was a Golem made of different stones, gems and minerals, and it's body seemed unable to be pierced, and it didn't help that it had 2 foot boulder-type minions that had enough force to take someone down. Angelica was using her taunt to take the attacks but even with that if no damage could be dealt to it, Angelica would have to stop it at some time. Sienna and Doran were trying to find a weak point, but couldn't find anything, and the longer they looked the more people were in danger and 3 Knights had already fallen.

"This isn't going to work..." Sienna said as she got back to Lea and Doran "It's defence is to strong and it has no visible weak points..."

Doran called to the remaining Knights "We need to retreat! It's too strong!"

One of the Knights called back "We're not leaving until we avenge our leader!" The boss doors opened and from the open doors a wave of fire came and knocked the Golem off balance. A man walked into the room. And Sienna smiled as she saw him.

"Dark!"

He smiled and walked past them "From this point on retreating is not an option." He rose his sword "And the reason why is because the first order from the new leader of The Knights Of The Blood Oath, is to avenge Takumi!"

Chapter 1 Offline

**Sorry if this chapter is...unlike others...It's been a while since I wrote Sword Art chapters, but I'll get back to my normal typing style within time. One more thing, I consider this my 'canon' continuation because this is the first way I decided to continue and are fully my ideas.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Shadow Golem

Dark has taken control of The Knights Of The Blood Oath.

Chapter 2 Online

The Knights seemed to hear me instantly and some smiled, others were distracted by the Golem.

"Lea, shoot a Hellfire arrow directly at its eyes." They were actually Rubies, but they were where the eyes would have been.

"Right!" She loaded the arrow and shot it at the Golem, connecting with one of the eyes, enveloping its face with flames.

"Good. All of you spilt yourselves into two groups of swordsmen and three even teams of archers!"

The Knights obeyed, and I turned to my party "I know you have questions but not now. I need all of you to attack the minions, and hold them off until the teams are made!"

"Whatever you say, Dark." Doran said smiling.

"You seem confident, so I'll trust your plan." Angelica 'gave' in.

"We'll do our best!" Lea said as Rocky barked.

"Dark...glad to have you back." Sienna said. I smiled and drew my own sword and ran at a group of minions. I swung my blade at one, sending a jolt through my arm, but I broke it down the middle, defeating it. The Golem was no longer blinded by the flames.

"Sir, our groups are ready!" One of the Knights called.

"Archers, move back and attack the chest, and arms. Swordsmen attack the feet and legs, but be careful!"

"But the monster's defence is-"

"Trust me and do as I say!" I said breaking another minion, defeating it like the other one. I move quickly to Lea "Leave the minions to Rocky. We're short handed, so join the archers." She nodded and quickly moved. I sprinted to Sienna, cutting another one of the minions on my way.

"Sienna, can you join the swordsmen?"

"No. You're stronger then me. I focus on speed, which makes me better for taking out the minions."

"I need to be able to survey the battle as a whole, so I can give them commands."

"Alright, fine. Take over for me." She said finishing a minion, before taking off to attack the boss. I smile and look at Angelica. Her health was down about half, but she must have been using it for a while since the attack weren't doing much. I took yet another minion down, before turning to the Golem. I could help a bit too. My sword went aflame "Flame Whip!" I shot the whip of flames at the golems arm, dealing no noticeable damage. I noticed that the minions were going for Angelica as well, but she would be taking more damage if the minions weren't destroyed. I ran over to her.

"Stop your taunt, drink a potion then reactivate it."

She looked at me confused "Why, I'll be fine for a while."

"If we allow the minions to attack you we can defeat the boss quicker."

"...Fine, you better be right." She stopped and drank a potion and reactivated her taunt skill.

"Good." I turned to the Golem and ran over to Doran "You and me are going to attack the boss as well."

"What about Angelica?" He asked.

"She'll be fine as long as we move quickly." I say turning to the boss and getting my sword ready "Cutting Barrage!" I shoot all of the waves at it's arm, breaking a few pieces off "Use your most destructive skills!" I order moving to the Golem's legs, along with Doran. I slowed down as I go closer, but Doran ran past me right to the Golem's ankle.

"Crushing Blow!" He swung his four bladed halberd and connected with the boss, not only breaking the stone, but cracking up the top of the legs. A moment later rocks fell it's leg, revealing darkness inside."

"It's hollow!" One of the knights called out.

"No." I said "It's something in there...It's weak point is hidden somewhere under the rocks...we need to break the rocks off so we can find the weak point and destroy it."

"How do you know so much about the boss?" Sienna asked me.

"I'll explain later." I said stabbing my sword into the hole where Doran hit and suddenly something flashed red on it's chest "Everyone, aim for the red flash!" I said before the golem moved it's sword, pushing my sword out, and making the flash disappear.

"Arrow Bomb!" Lea shot one of the red tipped arrows and it exploded where the flash was "That's the target!" Lea shouted as she loaded another one.

"Angelica, release your entrench and move back!"

"...You better know what you're doing!" She called back as she undid the skill and jumped back as Rocky took down the minions that were near her. The Golem started to move to get Angelica into it's attack range. I ran ahead and held my sword to the ground making a line in the ground. I stabbed it into the ground. Once one of the Golem's feet were past the mark I activated the skill.

"Barrier!" The blue force field appeared and pushed it's foot up, making it lose it's balance and fall backwards. The players that were behind it moved. It crashed down.

"Now, it's weak point can be hit, attack!" The Knights climbed onto it and stabbed into the weak point multiple times. I watched as the bar fell to 3 bars, then 2 in a half, then 2. Then the ground started to shake.

"Get off of it!" I called but before they could the Golem exploded, scattering all the players. Rocks flew in a directions and once the dust and rocks finally stopped, we could see what happened. The minions had disappeared and the golem that had been there was now replaced by a human shaped shadow being with a sword taller then it, and a red glowing stone in it's chest.

"A transforming boss..." I muttered "Haven't seen one of these since the 19th floor. At least it might be more manageable now." I smile as I dashed at it. It stood still until I swung my sword at it, and it only made a small sidestep so my sword missed and hit its. I regained myself as it's sword was coming down at me. I rolled to the side.

"Cutting Edge!" I shot the wave as I was still on the ground and caught it off guard as my wave threw it off balance "Archers, stay at a distance, Swordsmen, approach with caution!" I said as I stood up, and a moment later a hail of arrows came down at it. It dodged easily and moved to me and rose it's sword and tried to cut me in half. I rolled out of the way at the last second and launched myself off the ground and at it, holding my sword in front of me, which stabbed into the red stone in it's chest. It let out a mix between a shriek and scream of pain and grabbed me by the throat with one hand and threw me across the room. I landed on my back and from there flipped back onto my feet.

"That thing is not something to underestimate." I watched as a group of swordsmen ran at the boss. They attacked in unison, but the boss stopped all of the swords with ease. It pushed them back and swung it's sword, one of the players didn't move in time and suffered a wound to the chest. Doran ran and stopped the boss from attacking the wounded player again.

"Help him move!" He shouted at the others of the group and they obeyed. I turned and saw Angelica coming up to me.

"Did you release your taunt?" I asked not taking my attention off the boss.

"No. It stopped working on it."  
"Then looks like we have to fight it with risk of injury." I said as I looked at Doran, struggling to hold the boss back. I turned to Sienna and found her looking back at me, I mouthed the word 'behind', She turned to the boss and nodded as she sprinted at the boss and circled around, stabbing through it's back into the red stone. It made it's pained sound again and push Doran a few feet away and Sienna, aware of the danger, ducked, barely dodging the boss's blade and she moved back.

"Aim for the red stone in it's chest!" I ordered as I dashed at it again. It took it's stance again. I ran at it and I heard a sound of a crossbow and I jumped up, just in time for an arrow to fly under me and hit the boss, exploding on contact. I landed and Lea called out.

"Sorry Dark...I didn't mean to shoot it!"

"It's fine...I wasn't hit." I ran into the smoke and thrusted my sword and I thought he was, and I feel a blade enter through my stomach. I smile and grab the blade and run my hand down it, cutting my hand, to the hilt.

"Found you." I thrust my sword forward and it's shriek fills the air again. I hold the blade tightly and feel it try to pull away, the smoke now clearing.

"Attack it's weak point now!" I shouted to them as I held the blade. The Knights ran forward and stabbed into it, bringing it down to a quarter of a bar left when it suddenly lets out a black dome of energy, pushing me and the other players nearby away. After I was a few yards away, the black dome stopped pushing me and I realized the only ones left in the dome were me and it and no sound was getting through.

" I see, you know I'm the leader so you isolate me from the others, so we can fight one on one." It watches me silently "Guess you're not a talking boss." I looked at my stomach wound then my health. Half left. I open my inventory and tap a potion to gt a pop up 'Item may not be used here' I hesitate a moment then close my inventory "All right then...that idea is out." I ready myself and move a little closer before running at it.

"Mirror Image!" I shout as and identical copy of myself appears beside me. Me and the mirror image spilt so one of us is on either side of him. The copy attacks first and it blocks it as I come from behind. It pushes my copy back and swings the huge blade at me, cutting across my chest. I smile as the copy deals a strong blow to the stone, as the boss shrieks again, swing, cutting the copy's head off.

"Cutting Edge!" I shoot the wave and it connects with the red stone. The boss didn't let out a sound that time as it burst and the black dome faded away. A reward message appeared in front of me, Band Of Shadows, I tapped okay and rose my hand in victory.

"The boss is defeated!" The Knights cheered as level up messages appeared in front of each player. I looked at the wounds, then to my health 30% left, pretty good. I realized the cheering had stopped and no one was moving, I then remembered I took the role of The Knights Of The Blood Oath's leader.

"Oh yeah...I'm the leader..." I looked around and saw Asuna "Asuna, take the knights to the next floor. Me and my party will join you in a while."

"Understood." She answered as she went towards the door. My party came towards me.

"Ask the question." I said.

"Why did you decide to come?" Doran and Angelica asked me at the same time.

"A message. It was a delayed message from Takumi."

"Delayed? You mean you just got it a while ago?" Lea asked.

"Correct." I opened my menu and got to the message and read it aloud.

**To Dark**

**By the time you read this, I should be dead. But I have to ask a favor of you. I'm not asking you to take control of them, but make sure the guild doesn't do something stupid, because of my defeat. Also when you fight the boss, I want you to know, that you need to break it's body apart to find it's weak point...I managed that part before my end...this is the last you will hear of me...and I want to say sorry for the times I treated you badly...and so this is farewell. Do your best Dark, and escape alive.**

**Takumi.**

I look up from the message.

"He's the reason we managed to beat the boss." Doran said and I nodded.

"With his final message he passed on information that helped us." Lea said and Rcoky gave a small whine.

"But that doesn't explain one thing." Sienna said "Why did you decide to become the leader of the Knights?"

I let out a small laugh "That was just in the heat of the moment...but I have no choice now."

"Who cares?!" Angelica said smiling "This will help with our names becoming known!"

"That's all you think about..." I pointed out "Anyway, let's get going to the next floor."

Chapter 2 End

**Not quite happy with this chapter...oh well. Onto more important things...I'm running low on ideas for bosses...if you have an idea then pm/review the idea and explain what it's name is looks like, what it can do, what it changes at half health, and if you want you can add the final hit reward too.**


	3. Chapter 3: A Leader's Qualities

Dark and his party arrive on the 35th floor.

Chapter 3 Online

I was lying on the ground, enjoying the sun shining down on me, sword lying beside me, hand on the hilt in case I was attacked, seeing as how I wasn't in a town. We had arrived at the 35th floor about half an hour ago and me and my party had split up to look over this floor. We realized quickly however that on this floor it's always sunny, and always bright. It was close to night when I had arrived at the 34th boss, and we were there for quite sometime, yet it was still bright here. This floor was pretty much the counter part of the 19th floor. No night, no graves, grass and plant life covering most of it, I like this floor much better. I kept my eyes closed but my ears were listening for any sound that could be a potential threat. For a while there was no sound, until 10 minutes had passed when I heard footsteps, quiet as someone walked on the grass towards me. I slowly tightened my hand around my sword, until the person spoke.

"You know it's not a good idea to sleep here." A female voice said. The voice was familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

"I'm not sleeping. Just taking some time to relax." I opened my eyes to see Asuna standing over me "Because tomorrow I need to start acting like a true leader of The Strongest Guild In Aincrad."

"That's part of the reason I came to talk to you. First off, what do you know about running a guild?"

"Um...Absolutely nothing." I admit.

"Then why did you decide to declare yourself the leader?"

I sit up "I'll give you the same reason I gave my party." I say as I open my menu and send her a message "That is a message I received before coming to aid the guild and my party in the boss fight. Takumi's last message."

She read it over "This doesn't say anything about you becoming the leader of The Knights..."

"That was more in the heat of the moment, and so the Knights would obey me without question so we could move more efficiently and defeat the boss quickly."

"In the heat of the moment?" She seemed a little angry "You became the leader of our guild in the heat of the moment?"

"Pretty much."

She shook her head "I can't believe you...I guess as Vice Commander Of The Knights Of The Blood Oath I need to explain the basics to you."

I stood up, a little annoyed at her cocky attitude. "I know that a guild leader needs to make choices, and making the wrong choice can lead to deaths that otherwise could have been avoided. I also know the qualities that a leader needs is quick thinking, foresight, quick reactions and caring about the members of the guild as family and doing whatever is necessary to protect them. I don't know how Takumi ran the guild, but I am going to run it as I've run my party and none of my party members have ever died." I said suddenly sounding determined.

"Do you know what the duties of a guild leader is?" She asked.

"Sending out scouting parties to find the boss door and leading not only their guild, but all the other players trapped in this god forsaken death game, back to their life in the real world."

She looked at me and smiled "Looks as though a better leader couldn't have been picked. It seems you were wrong. You know exactly how to run a guild"

I looked at her a little confused "You were acting like that to see how I'd react...weren't you?"

"Yup. I was testing you to see what type of a leader you would be." I nodded since I understood where she was coming from "Also you forgot one quality a leader must have."

"What's that?"

"A leader must be approachable. A leader must make the members feel comfortable enough to talk to him if something is bothering them, or they need advise or help with something. If they are too commanding, they will seem like an unapproachable leader, therefore leading to the member trying to work it out themselves, or ignoring it at the time, and being distracted can bring the whole team down, leading to-"

"Unnecessary deaths."

"Exactly. Do you have that quality Dark? Are you an approachable leader that will help members that need it?"

I stay silent for a moment "I'm not sure. I'll help if they ask me too...but I'm not sure if I am an approachable leader..."

"Does your party come to you with things that are bothering them?"

I think back and remember that before me and Sienna were a couple she did trust me with telling me about what happened to her friend and how she obtained Unity.

"Only sometimes." I respond "But even so I met them on the first, the fifth, the 20th and the 31st floors. They've gotten to know me and have been with me almost constantly since I met them."

She smiled again "Then allow the guild members to get to know you. Make yourself seem approachable and the rest will work out."

I nod "Understood."

She laughed a little "You're the leader, I'm supposed to be saying that to you. Anyway, where do you want the Knights to meet tomorrow."

"Meet in the town near the front entrance around 10am." I told her.

"Sounding like a true leader now. Understood. I will tell the others. We're see you then." She walks off and I sit back down.

"I'm now the leader of The Knights Of The Blood Oath...I keep getting myself into situations like this." I muttered to myself "First, Demise and that was on the very first floor and that has been following me...even to this day, then I saved Sienna and Lea from Dragoon's breath attack and managed to defeat it while weakened, spreading my name even further, I got into an all out war with a pking guild and won, and now I'm suddenly the leader of a guild...and on the first floor I though about taking the coward's way out and stayed in the inn, waiting for the game to be beaten...and that could have changed a lot." A message suddenly appeared in front of me, I tapped it expecting it to be from one of my party telling me they are ready to head back to the house. It was from one of them, Lea, but it was asking me to meet her near an armory. I sent a message back to her telling her I'd be there soon. I walked towards the town and opened my menu to look at the boss reward, Band Of Shadows. It had no stats on it but it had pretty good effects. At night or in dim light I will be completely invisible. Perfect this will be useful on this floor I thought sarcastically to myself as I looked at the sun soaked ground. The other effect was that back attacks do twice the usual damage. I equipped it and the black band appeared on my left wrist. I looked at it and noticed a design of a masked face, like a ninja engraved on it. I continued on my way to town.

I arrived at the town and I walked to the armory Lea told me to meet her and I saw her sitting on a bench with Rocky sitting in front of her as she pet him. I walked closer and Rocky looked over at me and then laid on the ground and Lea looked up to.

"I'm here." I said pointing out an obvious fact.

She smiled "I noticed."

"So, why did you want me to meet you here?" I asked sitting beside her.

"It's about a skill that I got from leveling up from the boss battle."

"What skill?"

"It's called Beast Mastery, it allows me to have two tamed beasts."

"I was wondering when you would get that skill. Now comes the problem, correct?"

"Yeah. I don't know why I feel like this, but I feel like using the skill would be not only a betrayal but also an insult to Rocky." Rocky looked up at the mention of his name.

"What do you mean? How would it be betraying him and an insult?" I asked, having no idea why she thought that.

"Because I've had him since the first floor and I feel if I get a new monster tamed it will be like Rocky isn't strong enough and I need another pet to protect me." I got it now. She was afraid of hurting Rocky's feelings...and it's understandable, she is still a kid.

"I understand. You think Rocky will be jealous, and insulted that you need a new monster, am I correct?"

She nodded "I don't want to make him feel weak or useless..."

"I'm sure Rocky would understand. Your bond with him is very strong. You and him have been through a lot together and I've noticed that he is very protective of you and will guard you with his life. What I'm saying is even if you were to get a new monster, Rocky wouldn't mind and would still defend you with his life. The bond between you and him can not be broken by anything as small as using a skill like that." She seemed to be taking in what I was saying and I continued "You two will protect each other, no matter what happens. The choice is yours. If you want to use the skill use it, if you don't then don't use it."

She looked up at me and a smile formed on her face "Thanks Dark." She said hugging me "You always help me when I need it." I smile and return the hug.

"I need to help my party as much as possible. I can't let them worry about something that I might be able to help with."

She let me go "Should we find the others and return home now?"

"That would be a good idea. It's pretty late, despite the constant sun here." I messaged the others to meet us at the front gate "Let's go." I said getting up, Lea and Rocky also standing up. As we walked, a thought went through my mind. A leader needs to be approachable? I managed that with my party, a guild can't be that much harder.

Chapter 3 Offline


	4. Chapter 4: Addressed

Dark addresses the Knights as their leader for the first time.

Chapter 4 Start

It was 9:45am, and me and my party were on our way to the town give the Knights orders for this floor.

"Dark, what are you first orders as Leader of The Knights?" Doran asked me

"It will just be to set up scouting groups to find the boss most likely. Even if I'm the leader of the guild I'm not going to change the way it runs."

"Why not?" Angelica asked "You have complete control over the Knights and can run the guild anyway you want. You can made them obey your orders without question!"

"You're a control freak..." Doran muttered, which Angelica responded to with a kick to his ankle "Ow!"

I held back a chuckle "If I gave them any crazy or dangerous orders, I would be considered a tyrant and many people would leave...which would have a major effect on the guild seeing as how we have very few people anyway."

"I'm sure once people hear the the leader of the Knights have changed to you, many people will want to wsjoin." Lea said.

"Maybe...my name might be well known, but that doesn't mean people will instantly flock to join...at the moment with the number of people we have we won't stand much of a chance against the bosses...who knows how confusing the bosses will become, like the Golem we just fought, who knew that it would transform and that you had to break the rock around it's body to find it's weak point."

"You still managed to figure it out. I'm sure the bosses won't become that hard to figure out." Sienna said reassuringly.

"Sorry to ruin what you just said Sienna, but don't forget that I didn't find it out, but Takumi did, then its transformation was just just a basic fight."

"I was trying to help Dark." She said a little annoyed.

"Well, I thank you for trying then." The gates were in sight "We're almost there." We stayed silent the rest of the way. As I came closer to the gate I saw the Knights were already there. Asuna saw me and came up to us.

"All the Knights are assembled sir."

I nod "I'll address them immediately then."

"Understood." She walked back to the Knights. I walked to the front of the Knights and my party stayed near the back of the crowd. Everyone's attention was on me and I suddenly felt a little self conscious.

Might as well start, I thought to myself "As many of you know, I am DarkBlade. I was asked by one of the members of this guild to take over in place of Takumi who was lost in battle. I declined at first, but after getting a delayed message from Takumi I decided I would take over and not only help the guild clear this game quicker, but also to get the Knights back to their former strength and to become the strongest guild in Aincrad once again!" I smiled as some of the Knights cheered "We will continue looking for the boss doors, but if we find the boss door before we get new members to join, then the battle will be postponed and we will gather other players to come join. Also once a boss door is found, or something of importance is found, I would like you to either report it directly to me, or to a member of my party who will then give me the message via private message, or in person." I pause "If the matter is very serious, as in a matter of life and death I, or any of my party members will go out and handle it with a group of capable Knights. That's pretty much all I've had to say...set up groups now and scout the area, do not make groups of only 2-3 just because of the number of people we have, we can't risk having people getting killed needlessly, not that I'm insulting your strength...but pkers and monsters alike sometimes wander in groups." I waited for a moment in front of them.

"You said that we are report to you or your party...but what if we don't know who they are?" One of the Knights called out. I made a motion with my hand and my party came through the crowd to stand before the Knights.

"These are the members of my party. Lea, Sienna, Doran and Angelica." I say naming them from left to right "So if I'm not around when something happens, report to them."

The Knights started talking, setting up groups and I took that as my sign to move to the side.

"You seemed awkward at first." Sienna said in a teasing way.

"I hate public speaking." I tell her "I only do it when I have to."

"Seems like you understand the guild well." I turned to see Asuna.

"How so?"

"You knew exactly what they wanted to hear. How you will make this guild the strongest once again, telling them to report to you, making yourself seem approachable. You're make a fine leader of The Knights Of The Blood Oath."

I gave her a small smile "I'll manage somehow."

She smiled back "We'll all counting on you." She said walking away.

"She's right. None of the Knights rejected you as the leader. They all accepted it willingly." Doran said.

"I know. Maybe this whole guild thing won't be as hard as I thought." I said thinking about it.

"So are we going to join the scouting?" Angelica asked, itching for excitement.

"More or less. We won't concentrate too much on finding the boss door...we need to handle something else first."

"What do we need to handle?" Lea asked.

"Well let's get it over with so we can fight!"

"It does involve fighting, look at our levels." I told them. They did as they were told and Doran sighed.

"We're weaker then most players." He muttered.

"Exactly."

"Angelica is the closest since we met her on a floor before we feel behind on the 2nd." Lea pointed out.

"Dark?" Sienna cut in "What is the thing we have to handle?"

"Instead of hunting for the boss door, we're going to go power levelling." I smile

"That's even better then looking for the boss door!" Angelica shouted "Let's go!" she said starting to head to the town entrance.

"Not so fast." I say grabbing her shoulder "The best way to level up quickly is to return to town as little as possible. Get stocked up and we will meet at the front gate." Angelica instantly took off, wanting to hurry up. The other three split up and I walk towards the armoury hoping to start fighting with a shield again. I hadn't walked far before I came upon a store. It sold rings, but it was rare for rings to do anything and I had gone in a store like this before, and the rings did nothing.

I shook my head "Why do they bother selling rings that do nothing? They can't get much business doing that. The rings are just for looks, and besides who even looks at a person's hand for-" a thought entered my mind cutting off my self rant "Well I guess that may be one reason, but that must be limited to how many players in the game..." I pause again and feel my face grow hot "What the hell am I thinking?" I ask myself with a little laugh "I mean it would be pretty funny if I did that...but it could backfire..." I was tempted to enter the store but managed to pull myself away "Maybe later." I cleared my mind of the thoughts I just had and went to the armory. As I walked in a young player came up to me.

"Hey, can I help you?"

I nod "Yeah, I'm looking for a shield that I might be able to use efficiently with this blade." I say pulling my sword out. He looked at it for a moment.

"I might be able to help." He walked away and I looked around waiting for him. I never noticed how many types of items and armory had. Swords, armor, gloves, boots, capes, wristbands, ankle guards, hand bands, and a variety of other stuff. As I waited a cape caught my eye. It was pure black except with a red bat like symbol on the back. The man came back out with a sliver shield.

"This shield should work well."

"What is this cape?"

"It's the Shroud Of The Vampire Lord. With it you sometimes drain health from any damage you deal to monsters."

"Doesn't seem to useful for me...but it would be useful for a team mate that stays in fights...I'll take this too." He nodded and took it down and I payed the amount needed. I left and equipped my shield. The ring shop entered my mind again.

"I need to check it out sometime...maybe when we return to town." I head to the gate and see I'm the last one. I run over and we set out,

Chapter 4 offline

**Short Chapter...anyway I won't be updating for a while...I have a project that needs doing, and by the time it's done I'm going away for about a week.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Lunar Caverns

Dark and his party work on leveling up

Chapter 5 Online

"Dark watch out!" Sienna called. I duck just in time for a fireball to fly over my head.

"Thanks for the warning!" I instantly turned and closed the gap in between me and the living flame that attacked me and finished it's low health with a slash. I looked around.

"Good, that's all of them." I say putting my sword away.

"That's was a tough fight." Lea said petting Rocky who had a little burnt fur.

"It wasn't that tough!" Doran said with a smile. Me and Sienna turned to him.

"Says the one with the lowest health." we say in unison.

"Hey...that wasn't very nice."

I turned to Angelica and saw her health was full. I had given her the Shroud Of The Vampire Lord and she had used it to it's full extent so far.

"Cape working well for you?" I asked her.

"It's useful, but I could still manage these monsters without it." That kid's ego...

"Makes sense. Remember we all have gotten stronger from this." Me and Sienna were still tied, now at level 45, Lea and Rocky had gotten past Doran and were now level 43 as Doran was level 42 and Angelica was still in the lead at 47, not to mention that she had a new spear, where the head was actually on fire, I thought it only had the appearance of fire, until I noticed it was moving.

"Did anyone get any interesting loot?" I asked checking through the list that appeared in front of me.

"Nope." Lea said

"Nothing." Sienna also said.

"Nothing in the least." Doran muttered

Angelica shook her head.

"Oh well, maybe we will with the next enemies we fight." I looked at our levels "I think we should even out our levels near level 50 so we'll all about even in strength. Although the easiest way to do that would be to spilt up and stop as we hit level 50, being by ourselves or only one other person might result in either the remaining, if there are any, Demise members catching us of guard, or monsters proving to be too much for us."

"No member of a pking guild could take me down!" Angelica gloated.

"Pking guilds fight dirty, you never know what they can do. We'll stay together and Lea and Doran will do most of the fighting and myself, Sienna and you will only step in if needed."

She sighed "Fine..." I could tell she wasn't happy.

"Is that okay with the rest of you?"

"Yeah!" Lea said nodding and Rocky barked in agreement.

"Of course, we need to get stronger." I turned to Sienna and she smiled.

"You haven't lead us wrong before Dark."

"I'm sure one time I'll make a mistake." I muttered "Anyway lets go and see if we can find more enemies." I started to walk with my party behind me.

After we walked for a while Rocky barked and ran past me.

"Rocky where are you going?!" Lea called out and he stopped at a rock and started digging."

"What is your dog doing?" Angelica asked.

"I don't know..." Lea ran past me and to Rocky and as he stopped digging Lea called "Something's here!" We all quickened our pace and I got there first since I was the closest and looked into the hole to see a lever.

"Why would a lever be buried here?" I asked leaning down.

Sienna got there next "A lever? Do you think it's a trap?"

I shake my head "No. If it was a trap why would it be buried?"

"Just pull it then!" Angelica said coming up to the hole as well.

I reached out and gripped the lever "I want to...make sure you are all prepared."

"Prepared for what?" Doran asked arriving at the location, as he saw it "A lever?"

"Be ready for anything." I warn them, drawing my sword. The others ready themselves "Here we go then." I pull the lever and the ground starts to shake "Something's going to happen!" As I say that the ground we're standing on suddenly gives way and we start to fall. After a moment we hit the ground, and my sword leaves my hand from the impact of me hitting the floor. I hear the others groaning before realizing the dim light in this pit. I stand up and my eyes start to adjust. I look up and see a small circle of light.

"That's a pretty long fall..." I see my sword and pick it up "Everyone okay?"

"I'll live..." Doran groaned.

"Yeah...I guess." Lea said.

"You think that could hurt me?" Angelica asked.

"Where are we?" Sienna asked, completely ignoring my question.

"A pit triggered by the lever...now we just need to-" I was cut off as a message appeared in front of all of us I read it 'You have discovered the hidden dungeon: The Lunar Caverns.'

"A hidden dungeon?" Lea asked "We've never found one of these before."

"Then that can only mean one thing!" Doran smiled

"Treasure?" Sienna said with a slight smile.

"And we can tell everyone that we discovered a hidden dungeon!" Angelica shouted.

"You all seem excited about this." I smiled myself "Well be careful. We don't know what we'll have to deal with in a dungeon like this." I said as I looked around "And with the dim light we may not be ready for anything." I walked towards one side and a torch on the wall flickered to life, revealing a corridor "Looks like we have a way to go." I take the torch from the wall "And a light source." I walk into the corridor the others started to follow. I looked around as we walked, taking notice if anything moved, or made any noise.

"What do you think we will find in here?" Lea asked, I could hear the excitement in her voice.

"Most likely new equipment, maybe even rare weapons or armor." Doran answered. Sienna walked to my side and took my free hand and I turned to her.

"You don't seem as excited about this as everyone else."

"I'm curious as to what's in here, but my thoughts make it less exciting. If we find equipment in here, we'll have to fight to get it, putting ourselves in danger, and what do we do when we find better equipment? We take it off and sell it. Then once we defeat the 100th floor all the equipment is gone then and all the danger and work we put into getting it becomes worthless."

"You have a dull view on things." She said teasingly.

"My mind just works in a way of finding flaws. More recently now that I also have to control a whole guild."

"That was your choice. You chose to say that you would take over."

"Yeah, it was my choice. Hopefully I live up to-" I stopped and released Sienna's hand so I could rise it to signal everyone to stop, they obeyed and I looked around with the torch in hand.

"What's wrong?" Doran asked loudly.

"Quiet and listen." I tell him and he goes silent. In the darkness I hear faint sounds that sound like whispers, maniacal laughs, and screams "You all hear that?" They all stay silent, nodding as they listen "I think we may have some trouble ahead of us." I tell them.

"Maybe not. Couldn't it just be other players trying to take the credit of finding our hidden dungeon?" Angelica asked.

"First off it usually wouldn't tell us where we were if someone else beat us here and also listen and you will notice the sound is not in front of us, but all around us." I took a step forward. It sounded like the sounds were getting closer. I kept watching and the sounds suddenly stopped. I relaxed a little when suddenly a shadowy claw came from the wall and slashed down my face. I recoiled from surprise and the pain of the strike.

"Are you all right Dark?" Sienna asked.

"Yes. It didn't hit my eye at least." The cut was about an inch from my eye and went down my cheek. My eyes went to the claw that had cut me and saw that it moved out of the wall more, revealing an arm, then a body, until the thing was fully in sight. It was like a shadow a size of a human, but it had eyes, blazing red, and it's body was more like a small blob of shadows that ended suddenly and no legs were visible, but it's hands were razor sharp claws. It's bar said 'Shade, level 45' I heard the scream but this time it was closer and I turned and saw a light blue creature with a woman's face and body, but no feet and only the tattered remains of a dress dragging around the ground, it's eyes had no pupils and it kept letting out those high pitched screams. I checked it's bar as well 'Banshee, level 44'

"This looks a little too easy..." I muttered, then as if just to prove me wrong more shades came through the wall, joining the other one and blocking our path, as more Banshees joined the one behind us "Never mind. Lea and Doran, fight against the Banshees, Sienna, Angelica, You're with me against the Shades!" Sienna and Angelica came up beside me.

"I thought you were going to let them get the most experience, so why are we fighting the higher level mobs?" Sienna asked.

"There's more Banshees then Shades and also there are three of us, and two of them. They're gain more experience per kill."

"It doesn't matter! As long as they're strong." Angelica said throwing her spear at one, and it harmlessly passed through it. She recalled her spear to her.

"As expected." I mutter "They're made of shadows, you can't hurt them that easily."

"How do we beat them if we can't hurt them?" Angelica shouted.

"Calm down, I'm sure there's a way to-" I was cut of by one of the Banshees screaming and something hit me, Sienna and Angelica to our knees "The sound knocked us down..." I stood up as the Shade that attacked me flew at me again and I rose my sword, stopping it's claws. I hesitated for a moment.

"It's claws are solid." Sienna smiled.

"If they're solid that means we may be able to damage them!" Angelica said She threw her spear again and it bounced off one of the shade's claws harmlessly. She recalled the spear again.

"We need more force then that." I thought about getting my shield, but I realized since I was holding the torch I would have to make do. I pushed the shade back a little, but it was still strong.

"Sienna...can you help a little here?" She nodded and swung her sword at the shade, shattering one of the claws, causing it to move back and it's health to drain to half "Each claw is half their health ...interesting."

The shade flew at me again and I bought my sword down, and broke it's other claw and instead of breaking into pixels it just faded away "We know the weak point so let's go!" I shouted running at the shades. One of the shades slashed at me and I slid under it's claw bringing my word into it's other claw, shattering it. Sienna came behind and broke it's other claw, defeating it, and most likely saving me from a wound. I pushed my self up.

"These things are easy to defeat once you know how to." I said examining the shades around us "Break the claws with a solid hit and it's down." One of the shades flew at me and I blocked it, holding it back enough to keep it's claws away from my face. My sword ignited.

"Flame Whip!" The flaming rope of flame shot out, pushing the shade back further and giving it no time to react I slashed across it taking both claws out.

"This is so easy..." I muttered as I saw we had taken out three quarters of the shades.

"Dark look out!" I turned just in time to see the light blue face of one of the Banshees before it tackled me, sending the torch out of my hand and onto the ground, weakening the flame a little. I pushed myself up and the Banshee unleashed one of it's screams, knocking me back to the ground and rolling forwards a little. I tighten the grip on my sword and slash at the Banshee. As my sword connects it let's out another scream, this one not hitting me down, and it tries to claw me with it's nail, I block it with my blade and push back.

"Screw off!" I stab it in the chest and pull my sword upwards, the sword leaving through it's head, causing it to burst. I turn and notice Sienna and Angelica finishing the last shade, each breaking one of it's claws. I pick up the torch and turn to Doran and Lea, seeing Rocky biting a Banshee's neck and Doran and Lea finishing one together. They finish and my loot list appears in front of me.

**-Cheap Cloth**

**-3 Shade Souls**

**- Shade Eye**

Well the last two on the list are some odd items. I hit okay and wait until my party does the same.

"I decided I hate this place." I tell them "It's dark, I get my face cut and as I am fighting Shades a Banshee attacks me..."

"We can't control the monsters." Doran points out.

"What do you think is deeper inside? Sienna asks taking a few steps deeper into the corridor.

"More monsters maybe some sort of equipment...usually what a dungeon holds." I say as I take the lead with the torch, let's go and find out."

We kept walking and didn't get attacked by any more Shades or Banshees. We came upon a room with a pentagram in the middle of the floor, with bones all around it.

"So the 35th floor is a nice sunny place and underneath it is...this...bones, Shades, Banshees and a pentagram..." I shook my head "Prepare yourselves something is going to happen at some point. I took a step closer to the pentagram and a man came from the shadows. His hair was white and his eyes seemed to be sunken into his head.

"You! How dare you defile this space!"

"What the?" Doran said "Calm down we'll not-"

"It's an NPC Doran. We can't avoid this event." I tell him since the man has no health bar.

"I'll make sure you all burn in hell!" He shouted taking a dagger from his belt as he stepped forward a little. We all readied our weapons. The man rose his blade and stabbed himself through the heart. He fell to the ground.

"Well that was pointless." Angelica muttered "He just killed himself." I was about to respond when the pentagram on the floor started to glow red and I realized the man's body was on it.

"Here it comes!" Smoke rose from the ground, making us unable to see each other. Suddenly I felt something hit me and I was sent directly into the wall. I fell to my knees before pushing myself back up. The smoke started to clear and I saw a towering shape through the smoke. Once the smoke fully cleared I saw what had been summoned. It had the head of a dragon and it's body had spikes protruding from it's shoulders and just above its muscular looking legs. It's soulless black eyes locked on me and something rose behind it, a scorpion tail. I took my eyes off of it for a moment to scroll over my team. They were all ready to fight, which means I was the only one hit at first. My eyes went back to the monster. I looked at it's bar 'Servant Of Death.' No level was visible.

"Watch out for it's tail, if I'm right, it will poison you." I warned the others.

"Right!" They all replied in unison. The monster had not taken it's eyes off of me yet. I readied my sword and it stomped the ground, causing a tremor. I stumbled slightly but that was the only chance the monster needed before letting a stream of fire loose at me. I felt the heat engulf me, but thanks to my cape it had almost no effect on me. I run through the fire.

"Cutting Edge!" I shoot the blue wave at the beast and it stops it with its tail. I noticed it's eyes seemed to stay locked on me no matter hat, even if it was stopping my attack. I ran to it's side and it turned to watch me. I nodded towards Lea and she fired an arrow, but the monster's tail moved and stopped it.

"How can it stop an attack if it can't see it coming?" Doran asked noticing the same thing as me and the others.

"Your guess is as good as mine..." Sienna answered him.

"The tail acts independently from the body." I told them "It's the only way to explain it." I ran at it and it it swung a fist at me and I dodged and went to slit open it's wrist before I felt the tail smack against my back taking me to the ground. I rolled to the side as the tail hit where I just was. I got up and saw Doran had taken the chance of the monster attacking me to close the gap and smashed his four bladed Halberd against the Monster's knee, making it kneel and now immobile. It let out a roar and swung and smashed Doran backwards and into a wall.

"With that tail and it acting not independently from each other...Angelica I think the easiest way to defeat this would be with your Taunt and Entrench and Vengeance combo!"

Angelica nodded "Just remember-"

"That we won the battle because of you, yes I know." Ego feeding, yet again.

"Taunt!" a red glow flashed around her before disappearing and then the Servant Of Death's eyes finally left me "Entrench!" She planted her feet on the ground "Vengeance!" The monster shot fire at Angelica, but also the tail flew through the air and into the flames, connecting with Angelica's shield. Now that the tail and main body were distracted we could attack.

"Everyone unleash your full strength on it now!" My sword went aflame.

"Crushing Blow!" Doran smashed his Halberd onto the tail.

"Arrow Bomb!" Lea shot the arrow but right after that Rocky's blade started to glow and he ran at the servant and disappeared for a second, appearing on the other side, damaging it.

Sienna ran up and slashed down it's back before ending the combo with a fury of tabs on it's back.

With my sword still alight I activated my skill "Dragon's Flame!" I appeared in it's front as my sword was stabbed through it's stomach. I didn't stop my skill there as I pushed my blade up, cutting up to it's chest. I moved and saw it's heath was almost gone. Angelica stopped her skills and threw the spear, hitting it in the dead and defeating it The boss fell and burst.

"The reward better be well worth this dungeon. Shades that attack you from walls, Banshees that scream at you and a boss that has a tail that acts independently from it's body..." I was muttering to myself, but the others could hear it I looked at Rocky "Not to mention you surprised me as well with that move." Rocky looked at me, and cocked his head in a questioning way. A level up message appeared in front of all of us and I tapped okay when suddenly another message appeared, the background was pure black with red font.

**You have defeated a servant of the grim reaper himself. As a rewardyou will be able to equip a dagger, as well as your sword. This skill is passive and will activate as soon as you have a dagger in your inventory. You have also gained **

**-1 Ebony Dagger**

As the message said the dagger was automatically equipped to my side and I saw the same black message in front of the others, along with an identical dagger equipping to their sides.

"A skill. That's the reward for competing this dungeon." I smile.

"No matter what class you are." Lea repeated part of the message. " Which means I have a defence for close up now."

"How do I use it, since my weapon is two handed?" Doran asked, looking at his weapon.

"If you are disarmed." Sienna said, taking the dagger out and examining it.

"Is this a skill that you only get by fighting and defeating this boss? If so that means we are the only ones that can ever get this!" Angelica said happily. Suddenly a part of the roof breaks apart and a stair case appears leading up.

"An escape?" I ask no one in particular as I start up it, the other behind me. As soon as we get to the top I'm blinded by bright light, realizing a few seconds later it's the sun and we are out of the dungeon.

"How long were we down there, the sun seems so much brighter!" Doran said, shielding his eyes.

"Yeah it's pretty bad." I respond and a moment later a message appears, I open it and see it's from Asuna. I hear the other talking as I read the message.

"Now what Dark?" Angelica asked "More levelling?"

"No time for that now."

"Why not?" Lea asked.

"Let me guess" Sienna started "The boss door is found?"

I smile "Never ceases to amaze me. Yes the next boss door has been found and Asuna has messaged me telling me the location."

Chapter 5 End

**Wow...Just wow...I am very disappointed in myself...I made fans wait so long for something that took me less the 30 minutes to finish from where I last stopped...I am an idiot...ANYWAY time for another poll, this one is about a time skip. Please answer and like always I will pick the highest voted one.**


	6. Chapter 6: The Sun God

Dark and party, along with the Knight Of The Blood Oath, that Dark was now leader of, continue to the 35th floor boss.

Chapter 6 Start

We had teleported back to the town and I had the map menu tab open as we walked out of the town as we headed towards the location that Asuna told us the boss was located. I realized I hadn't asked an important question.

"Are you all stocked and ready to fight the boss?" I asked turning to my party, moving the map out of my view of them.

"We stocked up on potions and other items before we went power levelling." Angelica said, then added "Not that I need them."

"Not to mention we got a new skill." Lea said, looking down at her dagger at her side.

I smile "That was a pretty cool reward."

"Worth getting attacked by shades and banshees?" Sienna asked, remembering what I said before.

"Not sure...those enemies were some of the more annoying ones."

"Not to mention the boss was hard on it's own." Doran said.

"Yeah, but it's defeated and we each have a side arm now." I said with a neutral tone

"Anyway," Sienna cut in "Where is the boss?"

"Some Shrine or something...Asuna told me her and the rest of the knights would be waiting for us so we shouldn't have much trouble pin pointing the location."

"Any clues on what the boss might be?" Lea asked.

"Nope. Just a guess on my part, since it's hot and the sun is always out I'm guessing it might be some being of fire."

"Fire." Doran repeated "We have been fighting a lot of things to do with fire...The field boss that Angelica helped us with, the whole 31st floor was in a fiery environment and the boss we just beat shot fire."

"I know...but we manage to get past it without much damage."

"Without much damage...Dark...do you remember the field boss? It's fire took me down by half my health..."

"Are you alive?"

"Yes..."

"Then like I said, we got through it without much damage."

"It still hurt."

"Pain or death?"

"Huh?"

"Which would you rather, pain that would fade, or death?"

"I guess pain..."

"Exactly." I said not turning around as I saw a crowd of people and a pyramid behind them "Looks like we found the place."

"Seems so." Sienna said.

"Now we can show off in front-" Angelica started to say.

"Of the Knights, which your party leader is the guild master of?" I cut in.

Angelica just glared at me and kicked my shin "Don't cut me off..."

I laugh a little "Just telling you that the leader of the Knights would be the best to impress, and that's hard since I'm the guild master and your party leader." As we get closer to the Knights, they turn and wait. As I get in front of the group Asuna addresses me.

"Our leader arrives."

I nod and look at the gigantic pyramid behind them "Is this where the boss is."

"Yes sir. The door is on the east side." She said gesturing to the east side of it "So when you are ready to enter that is where it will be from."

"All right." I walk to the east side and the Knights and my party follow me. Like Asuna said there was a door build into the side of the Pyramid. I turned and took a count of the players I had behind me.

"We don't have many players ready to fight...all right. We will try and fight, if the boss seems to have the upper hand we are to retreat." I got no arguments "The boss may have minions and if that is true..." I paused trying to think of the best way to manage the players I had at my command "All right her's what's going to happen. I am giving control of all the archers to Lea."

Lea looked surprised "M-Me?"

I smiled "She will give orders to the archers as the battle drags on. Sienna and Doran will control the Knights that will fight the minions, if there are any, and myself and Angelica will lead the main force." I knew Angelica would put up a fuss if she did not get to be part of the force that fought the boss. I waited to see if the Knights wanted to say anything but when no one spoke up I added something "However the battle can change quickly so if I give an order to any of the groups, just do as I say, however if I don't give a command to your group keep going as you have been." I walk up to the door "Set up your groups and decide who will slay the minions and who will take the boss down." I leaned against the door, as the Knights started to sort themselves into groups and joined behind Lea, Sienna or Doran. I expected Angelica to com to the door along me but she was talking to Asuna. I felt something furry touch my hand and looked to see Rocky looking up at me with his black eyes. I knelt down and started petting him.

"I remember when you use to disregard me whenever I tried to talk to you." I looked at the blade around his neck "at least you never tried to attack me, because now you would be very dangerous." He looked at me a moment before lying down beside me. I pet him a little more until the groups stood in front of me.

"All the groups are ready." Sienna announced to me.

I stood up and Rocky walked back to Lea's side.

"All right then. Get ready." Alex pushed the door open and walked in, party and Knights behind him. As the last player entered the room the lights burst on and in the middle of the room stood a statue. It towered above the players, it was like a half man, half bird. It had the body of the man, but it had wings and the head of a bird.

"Wait here." I ordered moving closer to the statue, waiting to see if it would do something. Once I got to it's feet and nothing happened I grew confused. I tapped it a few times with the point of my sword but it didn't react.

"Where's the boss?" Called one of the Knights to me.

I stood there for a minute thinking before I pulled my sword back and smashed the blade against the stone, cracking it and causing the cracks to spread throughout the statue and the ground started to shake.

"Here we go!" I say taking a few quick steps back and the stone shatters, releasing a bright light which causes most of the Knights to cover there eyes, I avert my eyes to the ground, to protect them and to be able to tell when the light disappears. As soon as the light disappears I turn my eyes back to the statue and see it's now a golden color and it's four health bars appear 'Ra, The God Of The Sun.'

"Uncover your eyes!" I order the Knights and they obey, seeing the boss and small versions of the boss spawned as well and their bars appeared 'Follower Of The Sun' "Sienna, Doran take control of your group and attack the followers! Lea move your group back and attack from afar. My group stand your ground for a moment." I tell them and as Sienna and Doran's group attack the followers I run towards Ra.

"Let's see what you can do now." I smile as I take my sword ready to strike Ra. As I get close it looks down and it's beak opens and energy started building up until an orange, shining beam was fired at me and I stop and move back, just out of range and a moment later I feel the heat radiating from where it hit and noticed my hp was going down.

"I'm being hurt just from the heat?" I retreated further from the black mark made by the beam "When that beam is fired stay away from it and where it hits! The heat from it damages you! Now attack and watch out for it's other attacks!" I order and my group rushes forward to engage the boss "Hope I didn't make the the wrong choice." I mutter before engaging the boss as well.

I kept an eye on the other groups as I kept up the assault with my group, and so far it was going all right. Ra's followers were endless, making it so only the archers and my group could attack it as the other fought the followers. I also found out that the closer you are to where the beam hit, the more damage you take and not to mention that the difference of damage between being close to it and getting hit directly by the beam is huge. We had almost taken half a bar of it, but it was making things really difficult since when ever my group attacked it, it shot the beam down at them and forced them to move, or being heavily damaged by it. The archers were managing but the arrows weren't doing enough damage. I tried to figure something out, but it seemed there wasn't much I could do with such a small group, but I could try.

"My group, spilt yourself in two! One half will continue attacking it this way and the other half is to move around and attack Ra from behind!" The Knights obey and split into two "Angelica take one of the groups and lead the attack from behind!"

She nodded and shouted to one of the groups to follow her and she leads them behind the boss. I run and slash at Ra's leg and it started to charge it's beam again. The Knights moved back but I stood my ground in front of it. No one noticed I stayed until the Knights turned back.

"W-What are you doing?!" One of them called out.

"Testing something." The beam fired and I rose my sliver shield and I felt the beam hit, and the heat radiating all around me, damaging me slightly. Once I feel the beam disappear I smile and move my shield.

"So the blast doesn't have much force. All it has going for it is the heat." I say to myself, but loud enough for the Knights to hear. I glanced at my shield and was a little surprised as the color of the sliver was now blazing red, makes sense due to the heat. I threw the shield to the side of the room, not wanting to touch the burning metal by mistake. I noticed the group I had under my command was staring in a mix of surprise and looks of thinking I'm insane.

"The heat from the attack is gone. Attack!" My order snapped them from their daze and they resumed attacking it. I looked around and saw Sienna was using her speed effectively taking out the followers as quick as they could respawn, Lea was also handling the archers well enough despite her young age of 13, and Doran was showing how much of a leader he could be, and for Angelica...well I couldn't see her at the moment but I was guessing she was enjoying giving her group orders, I ran towards the archer group, taking one of the followers out as it tried to hit me with a staff, and I stopped in front of Lea.

"We need to do more damage." I say kneeling beside her.

She loaded her crossbow again before turning to me with a small smile "And you have a plan?"

"One that I hope will work. When it shoots the beam, it can't move for a moment, at that time I want you to order the archers to use their strongest skill or arrows."

"Can't you? I mean you even said that if you gave an order it overrules any we give."

"I know, but having different commanders is good for another reason. I am going to be busy in battle. You need to give the command as I'm focusing on the boss and my group."

"All right. I'll do it."

I nod and notice Rocky sitting beside Lea, blade in his mouth "Also since none of the followers are attacking your group can you send Rocky to help the players fending of the Followers?"

Lea nodded "Rocky!" He turned at the sound of his owner calling his name "Go and help the others fighting the minions." Rocky seemed hesitant to leave, until Lea added "Make sure none of them have the chance to make it over here." Rocky gave a small bark an ran towards the others.

"Remember the plan Lea." I said standing up and start to make my way back to my group until a group of 5 Followers block my path. Before I can rise my sword Doran and a 2 other Knights attack them.

"Go and join your group, we have these." Doran said.

"Right." I agreed and went around the minions. I got to my group and looked at the bars of Ra. One bar had just been emptied. If it was like other bosses then we would have trouble after we took this bar down. Ra had, up to this point shot the beam to attack, but now it swung it's fist down as well, shaking the ground, and luckily no one was crushed. I moved closer and stabbed into Ra's ankle and it swung it's open hand at me. I pull my sword from it's ankle and turned the sword quickly and stabbed through the palm of it's hand. Ra quickly pull his hand back, yanking my sword from my grip, disarming me and sending my sword into the wall by my shield. I draw my Ebony Dagger from my left side and stabbed back into the leg and pushed the blade down it to the foot.

"Move!" One of the Knights called out. I ripped my dagger from flesh and looked up to see Ra was aiming the beam, directly down at me. I moved quickly, trying to get to the range where it couldn't reach. I heard the sound signalling the beam was fired and knew I wasn't going to get out unharmed, but I could make it less damaging. I sidestepped as the beam closed in, and it only hit my right ankle, but despite that I still fell to the ground. The pain was intense and it felt like my ankle and foot had been dipped in boiling oil. Suddenly a hail of arrows through at Ra, some exploding on impact, some causing fire, some splitting, and many other effects.

"Keep attacking!" I ordered my group as I opened my inventory taking out Burn Ointment and even with it the pain was still bad, but it was bearable and allowed me to stand. I saw Ra's second bar through the smoke and smiled as it drained.

"Everyone, get away from Ra. It is now at half health, we don't know how or if it will change it's tactics."

Everyone obeyed and Angelica and her group came back to the front as we watched. The Followers stopped attacking as well so everyone was watching the smoke cloud Ra was in from the arrows. Once the smoke had faded we saw Ra, and it let out a scream, that resembled a hawk's and it spread it's wings. A faint red glow surrounded the wings and it got brighter and a sudden flash caught as all off guard. We were all blinded a moment and I stumbled back a little. As I got my vision back I suddenly felt as though I was being smothered. The temperature in the room was suddenly insanely hot and it was hard to breath and when you managed to take one or insides burned. Everyone was reacting the same way, trying to take a breath and a look of pain showing as they managed. Ra seemed unaffected by the sudden change, but the followers were. They shrieked and burst into flames, most likely just a flashy show of them despawning and since they were gone it meant everyone could focus on Ra. This heat was very bad...it's hard to breath, it hurts to take a breath, I wipe my forehead already sweating from the heat, the sweat could hinder vision and when it's hot it seem no matter what you do it saps your strength, this battle is not going to be easy.

I took a deep breath, despite the pain and called out "Everyone, the longer we wait the worse this is going to be. Focus all your attacks on Ra, do not let up!" Arrows started to fly again and all the swordsmen attacked. As the players attacked I moved around the boss, trying to pinpoint a weak point, or something that could help us win, but I was having no luck.

"Archers, aim for the wings!" They obeyed and arrows flew at the wings but bounced off as they connected "Resume your previous actions!" I call to them "So the wings aren't the weak point." I noticed that with all the players attacking, Ra was losing health quicker then before.

"Cutting Edge!" I shoot the blue wave up it's back, dealing minimum damage. AS the third bar emptied I smiled to myself.

"This battle is ours." I muttered to myself "This boss seems hard with it's burning beam, and the minions, along with it's ability to increase the temperature in the room, but it's really weak if you learn it's pattern." As the third bar disappeared Ra stumbled back and was suddenly enveloped in golden light. I acted quickly.

"Everyone move back, something else is happening!" Every Player in the room, my self excluded, scrambled to the back of the room, wondering what this boss would present next. As the light faded we were greeted by a huge golden eagle. It was still much taller then any of the players, but not as tall as it had been in it's other form. The name had not changed and it still had one bar left.

"It's the same boss, but we don't know what it can do. Be careful." I said to the Knights who started to regain formation now. Arrows fired at Ra and he took to the air now "Great... another flying enemy."

Arrows kept flying and swords could not reach Ra.

"Swordsmen, spread out. It will have to land sometime, or it will be taken from the sky, make sure it has no safe place to-" I was cut off by Ra was it swooped out of the air, and landed near the Knights and grabbed one it's beak, before firing another of it's beams, burning the player to ash before any of us could react. I ran at the eagle and it flapped it's wings, blowing players all over the place, but also burning them with the wind it was creating. I moved from the path the wind was going in and moved quickly, jumping onto Ra's back and burying my sword into it's back, earning myself a screech, It tried to shake me off, but I held on and climbed up it's body to it's head and I buried my blade in it's eye. It shook it's head and I lost my balance, and I fell of it's head. I was going towards the ground, head first so I tried to flip in the air and managed to land on my feet, but the pain from my burned foot, took me to the ground. Sienna came over to me.

"You okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine...just a little pain."

Ra shot one of it's beams blindly even though one eye was still intact and the beam went near the archers who scattered to avoid it. Ra started to flap it's wings.

"Don't let it take to the air!" One of the archers shot an arrow that released a net, causing Ra's wings to get a tangled, holding him at the ground "Now! finish the fight!" The archers returned to shooting arrows as the Swordsmen all attacked. Within seconds Ra's final bar drained and burst. The 35th boss was defeated! I managed to stand, with Sienna's help and addressed the Knight on our victory.

"We have now defeated the 35th floor boss, Ra. We lost one player in this battle, and that was unavoidable, but we will continue and keep going through the floors and escape this death game!" There were cheers from the Knights "Now, Onward to the 36th floor!"

Chapter 6 End

**Time skip warning: I plan to do a time skip next chapter, going from here to the 55th floor. I will add some detail about Dark and his party since there are 20 floors missing with the time skip. However if i get pm's/reviews saying that the time skip was a bad thing I will delete that chapter and resume from here. Either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7: Time Skip

Timeskip was now appeared. This chapter takes place on the 55th floor.

Chapter 7 Online

The 55th floor. We had made it far in the last little while, but more then a year had passed and if I cared to know exactly how long I had been in this game for I could have checked the date, but I don't think it would turn out to be something I wanted to know. In the last 20 floors me and my party had gotten some major leveling done and we now surpassed every other member of The Knights Of The Blood Oath and Me and Sienna were the highest now. Myself and Sienna were level 70, Lea was 65, Doran was 66 and Angelica was 68. I had now donned the red and white armor of the Knights and I changed my sword to a one handed golden edged longsword and no longer used a shield, my dagger had also changed from the Ebony Dagger to a razor sharp glass blade. It had less durability, but it did much more damage., Sienna got a new boiled leather armor so her speed would not be effected and she now had Unity equipped again, since it now surpassed her Assassin's Dark Edge. Lea had a new crossbow, the body of it was made of obsidian, and leather armor, similar to Sienna's, and Rocky had obtained a new blade as well, a sliver dagger, with the pommel in the shape of a wolf. Doran also had new armor and it was now a chain mail chest plate with the Japanese character meaning "Strong" engraved in the middle of it and he changed his Halberd to a battle axe that attached to his back, the blade was a pitch black that seemed to move like smoke when he fought with it. Angelica still used a spear and shield, but she insisted on getting one with a point on each side, and both sides had a different element to it, one was fire and one was ice, the colors of each side represented what element, red for fire and blue for ice, she also had the heaviest armor available, that at this time in the game was a suit of dark orange and dark red, since she was our tank. Since we knew we were going to be in this game for longer, we each got a pair of clothes to wear when we were not in battle so we wouldn't need to wear our armor all the time. Mine consisted of a loose fitting black shirt, navy blue pants and a black cape with a red Japanese character meaning Dark on it, so anyone who saw it would know me, which now that I think on it may have been a bad idea, Sienna got something more flashy, she had a flowing blue dress, and I was almost certain she did it to try and impress me and it did manage to, Lea got a white short sleeve and a plaid skirt, leggings as well, Doran got a dark green vest top, that didn't cover his arms, and using his words it was to "impress the ladies" and along with that he had jean looking pants, Angelica, who was still into lolita fashion like when we first met her, was wearing a dark red lolita fashion dress. As for skills, My defender had disappeared, for some unknown reason, and my hand to hand had changed slightly now allowing me to wear brass knuckles ...yet I never saw brass knuckles available in a store up to this point. I still had all of my attacking skills and one new one with the name of 'Blade Throw' It allowed me to throw my blade, and depending on the size of it, did different amounts of damage, but if it was a heavy blade I was left open to an attack for a few moments after the attack. Sienna had got a sudden burst of skills, She had a passive which made her speed increase further as long as she had a blade in hand, another passive allowed her to make more accurate cuts even with her speed, one of her attacking ones was called cutthroat and it was deadly. She appeared behind her opponent, her blade at their neck and she pulls it across, sometimes cutting the throat but if she's lucky, severing the head right from the body, resulting in instant death, be in player or human. She also had a skill to go past the opponent at super speed, confusing them, but it only works on monsters. Her last skill allows her to strike one enemy many times, damaging them and disabling them. Lea still had her many kinds of allows, but she gained a skill for being with Rocky for a long time. She could now ride Rocky and shoot arrows, making it harder to hit her and allowing them to use their abilities together. Doran had gained one skill but it was very damaging, he gripped his axe with both hands and started to spin, cutting anything in his path to ribbons. Angelica had gained a passive that increased her maximum health, and she gained another skill, where she could reflect attacks with her spear or shield. We still had the same house as before, and Demise hadn't bothered us for a while, so I'm guessing the other members gave up, or we killed them all. The biggest change was the guild. The Knights Of The Blood Oath had more then quadrupled in size and many of the players were skilled...and some were not. I had no time to test any of the players at the rate they started to join, but I learned quickly that some of them were not fit to the guild when they did not listen to orders from me or any of my party and when they got themselves killed by a boss, I think the most likely reason why we got such an increase in members joining the guild was because my name was known and people wanted to join under me, or they knew we were in need of members, but whatever the reason the Knights Of The Blood Oath had been returned to part of it's former glory and I was going to keep it this way. Now, back to the present time, Floor 55, I can't remember it's name, but the main city of this floor is called Grandum, also known as the Steel City, since most of the buildings were made of steel, but I think the name Blacksmith City, would be a better name. No one could walk through town without being offered a new sword, shield, or armor...that was if you were a normal player...It was hell for me, a well known player and leader of The Knights Of The Blood Oath the strongest guild in Aincrad, to walk through the streets of this city. I was basically swarmed the moment I was seen, people offering me swords and shields and armor. I managed to push pass most of them, but as soon as I did a new group of blacksmiths seemed to appear. This time was no different, I had separated from my party and the guild and sent them off to try and find anything helpful inside and outside of town, this town was a lot bigger then many of the others we had seen so I wanted to make sure we had some idea of the layout. I walked through one of the most crowded areas of the city, hoping to avoid detection. A moment later I heard someone call out.

"DarkBlade!"

"Fuck..." I cursed under my breath and I took off through the crowd of players, not trying to sell anything. I kept running until I felt hands grab me and pull me into one of the buildings roughly and letting go right after, making me fall on the ground.

"Ow..." I looked around and saw I was in an armory.

"That hurt you? What a wimp." a raspy voice said

"I'm not interested in buying anything." I said pushing myself up.

"Who said I was trying to sell anything to you?" The voice sounded familiar "You were trying to escape other, less experienced blacksmiths."

I turned to the one that pulled me into the building and saw it was Cero "...Why am I not surprised to see you here?"

"Because this is where every blacksmith has come to."

"That much is true." I agree.

Cero looked over me "You gave up using a shield and blade?"

"I decided I could fight better without a shield."

"Have you considered using a greatsword or other two-handed sword?"

"No. That would reduce my speed and leave me open if I miss."

"But it would greatly increase your attack power and with enough practise you may be able to use it effectively."

"Maybe...but I don't have much free time to train...I have to manage the-"

"Knights Of The Blood Oath, I know."

"Who doesn't know I'm the leader now?" I muttered "Fine, how much will a great sword cost?" Cero walks into the back and come back carrying a black greatsword with a brown dragon design on both sides of the blade, the hilt was wrapped with a thick black rope as grip. Cero handed it to me and I lifted it with my right hand.

"This isn't that heavy."

"Try swinging it." I did as I was told, swinging it with my right hand and almost flipping over the sword.

"It's a lot heavy while swinging, isn't it?"

"...Yeah it is." I lifted it up with both hands.

"Now swing it." I did and this time I stayed standing, but I noticed the time I was open for.

"So what do you think?"

"...I'll take it, but I'm keeping my other sword just in case I don't get much time to train with this one, so how much do I owe you for it?"

"Don't worry about cost. As long as the leader of the Knights is using my blade I'm content."

"I just think you are coming up with excuses for why I don't have to pay you."

"Do you want to pay? Leave before I change my mind."

"All right, see you later." I place the sword in my inventory and as soon as I walk out someone calls to me.

"Dark!"

I recognize the voice so I turn towards it and see Sienna and Lea atop Rocky coming towards me "Hey."

Lea smiled as she got closer "We found something you might like."

"Anything useful?"

"It could be useful in a way." Sienna told me.

"Now I'm curious. Lead the way." Lea was ahead and me and Sienna a little behind.

"What do you think of the smiths Dark?" Sienna asked with a small giggle.

"Demons from the depths of hell." I answered plainly "They constantly bug you and you can't kill them."

"I know what you mean." She said smiling.

"No...I'm the leader of the strongest guild, how can you possibly know how many people swarm me."

"What is my relation to you Dark?" She asked suddenly.

"Party member."

"And?"

"And, girlfriend...Oh..."

"Yeah...I'm just about as popular as you are Dark and on this floor that is not a good thing."

"We will be off this floor soon."

"Hopefully." Sienna muttered.

We weren't held up as much, but some smiths still insisted to bug as, until Rocky snapped at them, then no one approached us again. I followed behind Lea for a while before I saw the group of Knights waiting for our arrival outside of a gate. Lea and Sienna sped up to join the group and I continued with my pace until I stood in front of the group.

"Sienna and Lea. You said something helpful may be found." Sienna rose her sword and pointed over a gate to a large castle like building.

"We decided to ask you if you find this building a suitable place for the Headquarters Of The Knights Of The Blood Oath." Asuna said from behind Sienna. Asuna was still Vice Commander, I did not strip her of the title and if I was disabled in battle she was above my party in giving orders.

I nod "I understand." I push the gate open "I need to examine the area myself first before I make a decision." I tell them as I walk through the gate. The Knights follow me through and I'm greeted by a castle type building and a large open area in front of it. There was a fenced in area, most likely to be used as a practice arena. I look over the area before walking towards and into the castle. The main room was a pretty fair size and could easily fit all the members of the guild. I noticed a few other doors leading to other rooms, but I had already made my decision.

"From what I've seen I can say this would make a suitable headquarters for The Knights Of The Blood Oath."

Asuna nodded "I shall send message to members of the scouts you sent out."

"All right, thanks. For the rest of the day, you're all free from orders. Spend this time as you wish."

"Understood sir!" The knights answered in unison. Most of them wanted to see what else was in the place we now called the HQ of The Knights Of The Blood Oath. I turned to Sienna and Lea.

"Any idea where the last two members of our party are?"

"We weren't in the same group as them and have got no messages or anything, so we know as much as you." Sienna responded.

"I expected that." I smile as an idea comes to mind and I ran out the doors we came through and looked in the direction of the fenced in area and walked towards it. Sienna and Lea followed behind me.

"A practice arena?" Lea asked, dismounting Rocky.

"Seems so." Sienna answered.

"Even if it wasn't meant as that, I'm sure we could use it for that reason." I pause and turn to them "Which is what I plan to do now. Sienna, I challenge you to a duel."

She was a little taken back "What? Why?"

"I challenge you to a duel and for two reasons. One, I want to test our abilities against the other and two, you defeated me fifty floors back and I want to redeem myself from the defeat."

A smile slowly formed on her face "All right, I accept, but to be honest Dark I don't think you cab defeat me. We'll the same level and I have speed on my side. Just like on the fifth floor."

"That was fifty floors ago, and we have both improved since then."

"Yet you still hold a grudge against me for beating you." She said climbing over the fence into the arena. I do the same and we go to different sides as I send the duel request. Unlimited time, and the battle would end as soon as one of us reached the red zone. The timer started counting down.

"Also try not to use skills that might kill me, cutthroat is the one I'm talking about."

"That's fine. We may be having a battle, but I don't want to kill you."

"Neither of us wants to kill another player, now that my marker has finally reverted to green." I checked the timer to see 10 seconds was left.

"I want you to give it your all Sienna."

"I will and I expect you to do the same." The timer had reached 0.

As I expected, me and Sienna didn't move, both waiting for the other to make the first move and once one of us did the fighting would be continuous, neither of us catching a break. I grew impatient and took a step closer as Sienna retreated a step.

"Come on Sienna, why are you backing away?" I said, hoping to get her to attack.

"Being careful." She responded plainly.

I rose my sword "Cutting Edge!" I swung it down, releasing the wave at her, causing her to use her speed to avoid it and I turned and swung my sword down as Sienna tried to cut my back. She seemed surprised.

"You stopped my attack..."

"I know your fighting style." She backed off, before I could try another attack and she smiled as he moved her sword to her side "Don't forget I have this skill too." She faded away and disappeared.

"Dammit...I never figured out how to avoid that move..." I acted quickly and drew a circle around me with my blade and counted in my head "Now!" I stabbed my sword into the ground "Barrier!" A moment later I heard the sound of a sword smashing against my barrier. I turned and saw Sienna was knocked to the ground sitting there, a little stunned. I pulled my sword from the ground, making the barrier disappear as I spun around and brought my sword down trying to land a hit on her, but she rolled out of the way and swung her sword, almost connecting with my face, but I moved at the very last second. I moved back and now noticed that a group of Knights had gathered around, watching the battle. Sienna noticed my moment of distraction and swung at me in an arch and by the time I noticed it was to late to block, but I managed a small step back, barely avoiding her blade. I stumbled trying to get ready again, but Sienna gave me no time and kept up her attack. I managed to stop her first strike with the hilt of my blade and the few after that but then she rose her sword up and swung it down. I reacted quickly, grabbing her sword wrist, stopping the blade inches from my head. I pushed the blade from my head and moved back, gripping my sword tighter and getting it back into a good position. Sienna smiled.

"You have gotten a lot better from the fifth floor and you seem to be able to foresee where I'll attack you from."

"It's to be expected we both improved since the fifth floor. Also I'm use to speed fighters now."

"Yet neither of us have dealt any damage."

"This battle may take quite a while then." I point out, dashing suddenly at her. She rose her blade in front of her, ready to defend. I swung my sword down as hard as I could and our words clashed again without either of us showing a sign of giving in. I pull my sword back quickly and hit the bottom of her sword, knocking it from her hands, she reacted quickly and moved back and behind me, I turned and she drew her dagger and I did likewise, dropping my sword, we both moved quickly and our daggers ended up pressed against the others throat.

"Didn't expect this..." I muttered.

"I think we can call this a draw." Sienna told me.

"Well both of our health bars are untouched and one more moment and we both would have our neck silt, so yeah, I can agree that this can be called a draw." I ended the duel and noticed one of the Knights focusing solely on me, but when my eyes met his he averted them. I took note of his name, Zaren. The Knights slowly started to move away and get back to whatever they were doing before. I picked my sword up and replaced it in it's sheathe, along with my dagger. Sienna moved and picked up Unity where it had been hit. Lea was smiling as me and Sienna left the arena.

"You two are evenly matched." She said getting on top of Rocky again.

"We didn't use our more lethal skills though." I pointed out.

"And if we did, we would still have been evenly matched." Sienna decided.

"That could be. Anyway we are going to search for the boss door tomorrow. All we need to do is wait for Doran and Angelica to return then we can rest for the rest of today."

"Right." Sienna and Lea both agreed starting to walk to the headquarters building. I followed behind them, letting my thoughts wander. More then half way through the game, if we were lucky we may be able to leave this game before another year had passed."

Chapter 7 Offline

**There you have it, the timeskip chapter is completed! I hope all of my readers enjoyed this chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8: Infiltrated

Dark goes with one of the Knights after being told another one is in danger.

Chapter 8 Online

This wasn't how I expected this day to go, but not much I could do. I got caught up in taking care of some preparation for something I had planned and I told my party to take care of any problems that arose at the HQ and needless to say when I returned I found out from Asuna that Lea and Angelica went with a group of Knights since they needed an archer and Angelica insisted on going too and Doran and Sienna joined separate groups to help them search for the boss door. At least they found a way to use the time it took me to get my plan completely ready, but now I had to wait until they returned to HQ, go and hunt myself or avoid the blacksmiths in the city. I decided to wait around, not wanting to risk going into the city and not wanting to miss when they arrived back to the base, but I must say that it was unbearably boring just sitting around waiting, and most of the Knights had left on my order to scout the floor and try their best to find the boss door. I walked around the empty hallways of the base, awaiting something to happen, and nothing did...until a little past noon. I was in the council room, more or less still wandering around when I heard the metal door of the entrance open and slam shut.

"Master!? Are you in here? I need your help!" There was panic in the voice and I ran through the door and down the steps leading to the entrance. I got there and saw Zaren, cut, bruised, covered in dirt and his health was in the yellow zone. If my memory served correctly he had convinced a group of Knights to go and search a dungeon with him, after getting my permission, and no word had been heard... until now. Zaren was about 5 foot 5, making him slightly shorter then me, and in his early 20's, and he was more muscular then me, but in this world I outranked him in level and strength, he had a head full of black hair stopping just above his eyes and styled in a way where it was spilt in the middle, showing his forehead, and he had brown eyes like mud, that made anyone uneasy when they made eye contact. He was still in his red and white Knights armor, but it was dented and scratched.

"Zaren, what happened?"

"W-we were ambushed! I don't know about the others, we were separated, but I managed to escape...you have to come and help me so we can try and save them, they may have found a safe zone."

"They can't use a teleporting crystal?"

"No. The dungeon wouldn't allow us to, we have to hurry!"

"All right." I took out a teleporting crystal from my inventory "What floor?"

We had arrived at the 34th floor, Landslide Mounts...one of the floors I hated the most. The mountains loomed over you, seemingly ready to collapse at any moment, but I followed Zaren through the town and the many mountains around and into a forest area.

"How far is it?" I ask as we kept up a brisk pace.

"It's through this forest." He responded. It was eerily quiet around here and no players had been found since we came onto this floor since it wasn't at the front lines, but I had to keep the members of The Knights safe and if Zaren was telling me the truth then there were a few members that needed me, yet I wasn't so sure about him. I remember him asking to join and I allowed it, not having much time to test him or anything, but he had proven himself well, but thinking on it now he seemed to be glaring at me quite a lot since he joined after the 45th floor, I never really noticed until our pace was more relaxed and the day before when me and Sienna fought and caught him glaring at me. I'm sure I was just being paranoid, a trait that was showing itself from my life in the real world, he had been with us for 10 floors and hadn't tried anything and despite not being in the guild as long as some others he was not scared to put his life on the line to protect other members of the guild. As we continued walking he didn't seem nearly as panicked as he did when he first came into the base again to tell me the news, but he was keeping a good pace. We got to a clearing that ended in a cliff and we walked over to it and I looked down to see a waterfall flowing into a body of water and you could see some of the water was a light blue, meaning it was shallow and some was dark blue meaning it was deep.

"How do we get down?" I ask.

He pointed "There's stairs craved into the cliff side, and it leads right to the bottom into the shallow water."

I smiled as I got an idea "I have an idea that will be faster."

"You do?" I nodded and took a few steps from the cliff before running towards it and jumping off, falling fast and after a moment I hit the water. It was cold and it did shock me but I stayed above the water and looked up to see Zaren looking down at me with a look of surprise and a small smile on his face. I swam over to the shallow water and got up onto the ground and watched as Zaren decided to be boring and took the stairs that ended to my side.

"Was that really needed?" he asked.

I smiled a little "What can I say? I like swimming." I stood up when a message appeared "From Sienna." I read aloud before opening the message.

**To Dark**

**We found the boss door and in record time! I have already sent messages to Asuna's, Doran's and Angelica's and Lea's group the location and they are on their way here. How close are you?**

**From Sienna**

"The boss door was already found." I tell Zaren.

"You're not just going to abandon the others are you?" He asked, in an accusing tone.

"Of course not." I answer starting a message

**Sienna**

**I am on the 34th floor helping one of the Knights rescue others that he was separated from in a dungeon, and I won't be able to make it today, but that doesn't mean that the boss is going to wait until tomorrow. I am putting you and Asuna in command in my place. You two will give the orders in battle and do what you think is best to defeat the boss. I know you would rather me be there, but I need to handle this problem now, so if you refuse to do this as a request from me, then I order it done, as the leader of the Knights. I wish you luck, and be careful.**

**From Dark**

"She'll take care of it." I respond "So where is the dungeon?"

"Are you sure she can handle it without you?" He asked.

"She'll be fine, I trust in both her and Asuna's abilities."

He nodded "If you say so. The dungeon is right through the waterfall" He said taking a few steps towards it.

I drew my sword and pointed it at him "First I have a question."

He looked surprised that I had my sword drawn on him "What is your question...but would you mind putting your sword down?"

"I will. As soon as you tell me why you did it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you kill them?"

"Master...what are you talking about?"

"Stop playing dumb or I'll kill you where you stand." I said firmly.

He chuckled and it started to rise in volume until he was full out laughing, after a moment he slowly started to stop "How did you know?"

"Easy. You have been glaring at me a lot since you joined the guild, I thought you were jealous of my position as leader at first, but I noticed yesterday that you were examining me, watching my fighting style, trying to find a weak point you could exploit. Another reason is you decided to do it the day after you saw me fight close up and it was a little too convenient that you and the group of Knights were the last ones to leave, and that I was left alone in the HQ. You waited until I sent the other Knights out and once you made sure my party joined other groups, you saw your chance to get me alone and to try and kill me."

"Exactly. I shouldn't have underestimated your observation. You saw the small mistakes I made. Did you know when I asked you to help me?"

"I was very suspicious, but then you made one more mistake. You dropped the act. You came into the guild, panicking and worried about your team mates, but when we were in the forest you didn't seem worried at all. Add to that the way you would put your life on the line and that settled it. I'm the type of person who would put my life on the line to protect my friends, like you acted, and I wouldn't leave my friends alone if we were in a dungeon and I would be very worried, that s what made me fully understand. Now why did you do it?"

"I'm an assassin from Laughing Coffin. I was told to kill the leader of the Knights Of The Blood Oath so you wouldn't be able to stop Laughing Coffin. I killed the group of Knights I was with to get you to follow me into the dungeon and there I was going to finish you off, and return to the guild telling them you were defeated in the dungeon and if a new leader was selected I was ordered to kill them as well until the guild decided to disband...but that doesn't mean I can't take you down now." he said drawing a black katana with white bones craved into the blade.

"A katana? You used a great sword before."

"This is my true fighting style." He said smiling.

"Do you really think you can defeat me? Me and my party took Demise out, I'm sure I can handle a lone assassin from Laughing Coffin."

"Then prove it!" He said dashing at me, starting the battle.

I easily blocked his first strike, but just as I did it seemed like another strike was coming and I stopped it as well, but every time I stopped a strike another one was coming from a different angle. I was managing to defend myself, but that was no way to win a fight. As I blocked an attack I moved back as soon as our swords connected so I was out of his range. I rose my blade.

"Flaming Edge!" I shot the flaming wave at him and he easily cut through it "Flaming Barrage!" I said, firing more of the flaming waves at him and he dodged and cut through them easily.

"You're moves aren't as strong as I thought Dark." He mocked "Maybe you shouldn't have become the leader of the Knights Of The Blood Oath after all, you're not even a threat."

I took a deep breath focusing on him, trying to visualize his movements in my mind when he attacked, but I couldn't find an opening in it. I ran at him and as I ran my sword burst into flames.

"Flaming Whip!" I shot the whip at him and he rose his sword to brock it, but the fire bent around his sword like a real whip and part of it hit him in the face making him retreat from the fire. I saw his face wasn't badly hurt like I had hoped but the attack had made an opening for me. I ran at him and he managed to block my strike, but if I kept him on the defensive he couldn't release his barrage of attacks on me again.

"Maybe I was wrong about you not being a threat." He said as his other hand reached into a pouch he had attached to his side and a moment later he pulled his hand out, a knife in it and he thrust it into my stomach. I moved back instantly and felt my body numbing and I saw I was paralysed. I opened my inventory quickly, before I became completely numb and I took a pill out and swallowed it, taking the status away.

"Dammit. All pkers never play fair. Hostages, poisons, ambushes, it's always one thing or another with you guys."

"We need to make sure we can kill our targets."

"Well I've never lost to a pker and I don't plan to now." I shouted as I dashed at him "Mirror Image!" Another image of me appears and I decide to try and trick him, making the mirror image stay behind, standing as I ran at him.

"Nice try." he said as he avoided me and ran at the mirror image, attacking and being blocked "You think I can't tell you would stay back, avoiding the range of my knifes?"

"I expected that." I said from behind him and before he can turn I stab through his chest and the mirror image with such force that I push the sword through a tree, pinning him to it as the mirror image disappears "You fell for my trick."

He chuckled a little "I have to hand it to you Dark, you caught me off guard with that tactic." He said with a smirk "Yet I have a few tactics of my own." He said his sword swinging at my neck and I pulled my sword from the tree and his body and moved back.

"Then why don't you show me these tactics?"

"I plan to." He said as he changed his stance so his katana tip was on the ground.

"A new stance..." I muttered as I drew a line across the ground. He suddenly dashed at me extremely fast and I stabbed my sword into the ground "Barri-" I was suddenly sent back, as he tackled me, and my sword wrenched from my grip as I smacked the ground. As I started to regain myself I felt him step on my hands, holding me to the ground as he looked down at me.

"Was that a good enough tactic for you?" He asked bringing his sword above my face.

"Yeah, except one thing you forgot."

"What did I forget?"

"Without a sword, I'm still not useless." I pushed off the ground and brought my foot up to meet his face, feeling a bone give way from the force and he dropped his sword an inch from my face as he grabbed his face in pain. I got up from the ground and moved quickly grabbing my sword. I turned and he was still holding his face and I ran at him, sword pointed at him.

"It ends here!" I thrust my blade towards his body, but I hear the scrape of metal on metal. He had equipped a new blade, a broad sword with a razor sharp edge. He was also no longer holding his face in pain.

"This tactic is the fake-out." He drew a knife and stabbed it into my right arm and I felt it starting to go numb, but before I could move back he rose his sword . I tried to raise my hand fast enough, even with the numbing, to block the blade with my sword as he brought the sword down. I heard my sword hit something but I was blown back. Without looking I knew what had happened, but I still looked. My sword was on the ground as pixels of something bursting came from around the hilt.

"There, I think this will be easy now." Zaren said kicking my sword away "Now that you are short a limb." My arm had been cut from my body, my sword arm to be more precise "I noted that you held your sword into your right, so now even if you get a sword, what can you do?"

I dropped to my knees from the sudden exhaustion that came with my arm being disconnected from my body. I felt so weak, and not just because I only had my left arm, but it felt like my body had been drained of all stamina I had left. I looked at my health and saw it had entered the red zone, mainly from the last strike I was dealt.

"Bowing down in defeat?" He said mockingly "Looks like not even you can take losing an arm lightly." He said walking closer, sword ready "I'll finish you by removing your head from your body."

"I...can't die."

"You can, and you will die by my hand at this moment." He brought the sword down and I grabbed my dagger with my left hand and brought it up to meet his blade. My hand was shaking since it wasn't use to holding a blade, or holding back another blade, but luckily the dagger didn't shatter even though it was made of glass.

"You still have some fight left in you? This should be interesting." He brought his sword up and down again but I rolled out of the way, ending up at his side. Getting a sudden burst of adrenaline, I pushed myself up with one arm and stabbed my dagger into the side of his throat, and as he staggered I turned him to me and stabbed my dagger into one eye and then the other and finally I stabbed it in through the bottom of his head, putting an end to his screams of pain.

"Not can't die. I will not die. You defied me and the Knights, and for that you must suffer a painful death."I pulled my dagger out of his head and kicked him off my dagger as he burst, my ring started to glow and I gained a level for killing him. I fell to my knees again and almost blacked out, but I couldn't worry the others and forced myself to stand. I opened my inventory and draped a cloak over my right shoulder, hiding the fact that I was, at the moment, crippled, I knew from the beginner manual that my arm would regenerate sooner or later, but it may take a while. I looked through my inventory and cursed myself as I saw that I had no more teleporting crystals and I started my walk back to the HQ.

Needless to say that my walk back was troublesome and quite annoying, and I was lucky when I arrived at the 55th floor since most of the blacksmiths had closed and I could walk through pretty peacefully. As the HQ came into my view someone looked out the front gate and smiled when she saw me. She came from the gate and jogged over to me.

"About time Dark."

"Sorry Sienna...I ran into a little trouble." She looked at my health and marker, which were both red.

"Dark...what happened?"

"I had to kill one of the Knights."

"What? Why?" She asked, confused.

"He wasn't one of us. He was an assassin from the pker guild, Laughing Coffin."

"You weren't badly hurt right?"

"It was a hard fight...how did the boss fight go?"

She smiled at that "We won! The Knights are waiting in the HQ for you to address them, and no one has gone to the next floor."

I nod "Can you address them for me...I'm not in the best...condition to do it." I say giving the cloak covering my injury a glance.

"Dark?" Sienna asked moving the cloak, letting it fall and revealing my injury. She gasped and covered her mouth "Dark...your...arm...!"

"Cut off in my battle." I say picking the cloak up and draped it over my shoulder again "It will heal soon." She grabbed me and hugged me, a few tears going down her face "I should have stayed with you...I should have let Doran take the group alone..."

I hug her back "This injury isn't your fault. It's Laughing Coffin's..." I pause for a moment "You know what Sienna, I think I will address the Knights." I say as she steps back, calming down a little.

"Are you sure?" She asked looking at me.

I put my one arm around her and held her close to me "I am positive." We went into the front gate and as I pushed open the metal front door I saw the room full of Knights, sitting and talking, but as I walked in, they all stood and turned their attention to me. I walked past them, Sienna still beside me and I stepped up the steps that were built up to a platform with a throne type chair and a lot of standing space and I observed the Knights before starting.

"I have heard that the 55th floor boss was defeated, even without me there to give you commands. I was busy with something else that couldn't wait and I thank you all for doing as my two replacements told you. I don't know how many of you were lost, but if any were, you made sure their deaths were not in vain. I am glad to be the leader of such a brave, strong group of people." Cheers rose up from that "But I am sad to report that a number of Knights have been killed today." the room went silent "Zaren, who I am sure many of you knew was not who he said to be. He convinced a group of Knights to join him on a trip to a dungeon and while in there, he slew them all. He then came to me and told me they had been 'ambushed' and I suspected something so I went with him and before entering the dungeon I called him on it and he admitted it and told me everything. He was an assassin from the guild Laughing Coffin and he was ordered to kill me and any leader after me until our guild disbanded. I fought him and killed him" Cheers again "But not without injury." The room went silent yet again and when I removed the cloak people's eyes widened in shock and I saw Lea, Doran and Angelica in the crowd all just as surprised, mutters went through the crowd and I waited until they died down "So instead of just searching for boss doors and getting out of this game, we have another goal. We will find Laughing Coffin's hideout and wipe each and every member from existence!"

Chapter 8 Offline

**Wrote this in one sitting...not something I can usually do, but I guess that's what I can do when I get really into it, and with my school ending in one more day I may get more into writing my stories again, and start posting chapters every day...but don't count in everyday because I may have work to do. **


	9. Chapter 9: A Day Off

**All right, I will give a warning to all of you right now. This chapter is going to have no fighting, and will only be used for the sole purpose of increasing Dark's and Sienna's relationship. **

Chapter 9 Online

I walked into the guild alone, my party still at the house, I wanted to be here earlier then the Knights, mostly so I could try and think of how I would address them. Like I had expected my arm had regenerated so fighting wouldn't be a problem, but that wasn't part of my plan today. I waited on the same platform as I had yesterday and waited for the Knights to arrive, along with my party. It wasn't long before a few Knights started to come in, Asuna being the first, followed by more of the veteran members. By this time I had already grown tired of standing and was sitting in the throne like chair on the platform.

Asuna noticed me quickly "You're here pretty early sir."

"Yeah, I know, but I've only been here for half an hour at most."

"Where's your party?"

"They will be here soon. I told Sienna where I was heading."

"So they may be here soon. Have you decided what to do about the whole situation with Laughing Coffin?"

"I have." I said pausing for a moment "We are going to continue like we have been, searching for the boss doors, but I am going to assign one or two groups of trusted Knights to try and locate their headquarters. Once found we are going to attack and destroy it and any member that decides to attack us."

"And their leader?"

"Their leader will target me and he knows I'll target him since he is the one that sent the assassin after me." I tell her refusing to use the assassin's name "So he will either invite me to a one on one fight or he will join the fight and aim for me mostly."

"What if their headquarters can not be found?"

"Then the next member that comes at me will give me my answers, willingly or forcibly."

"In other words until Laughing Coffin is found and destroyed you won't forget them."

I gave her an odd look "Why are you asking about this Asuna?"

"I'm not in league with them if that is what you are implying." She said with a glare "But it just seems a little dangerous to bring the Knights into a guild fight with a pker guild."

"First, I was not implying anything. Second, I never said I intended to bring the Knights with me to fight Laughing Coffin. Me and my party can handle it, but it was their leader, and yours as well, that was the target. Do you not think they would want to take Laughing Coffin down as much as I do?"

Asuna shook her head with a smile "Somehow your answers never cease to amaze me. Well I look forward to see how your plans work out." She says walking away as my party walks in. Lea sees me and smiles as she, atop Rocky come up to me ahead of the others. I pet Rocky as he nudges against my hand.

"Dark, do you still plan to go along with your plan?" she asked with a grin. I had told Lea my plan in advance since she guessed I was going to do from a mistake I had made and because I knew I could trust her after having her at my side since the very first floor, and the second or third day after the game started.

I nodded "I do. I have the item needed and got it all figured out."

"It's a good idea." Lea said "I'm sure of it."

I nodded in agreement "I had the idea of this for a while, before the whole power levelling trip we did on the 35th floor."

She seemed a little surprised "That long?"

"Yup, and now I finally decided to go for it."

"Well, I wish you luck with your plan." She said and Rocky stayed silent, but licked my hand that was petting him.

"Thanks." I say quickly, as the others approached within hearing range of us.

"Is your arm okay?" Doran asked as soon as he stepped onto the platform.

"My arm is regenerated and in working condition. Rest assured Doran, my arm will not be failing me today."

Before Doran could respond Angelica spoke up "Are we headed to the next floor today?"

"You will just have to wait until I address the Knights."

"You can't just tell us now?" She asked, a challenge in her tone.

"Nope." I respond, earning me a kick to the shin, which I ignore. After a while more of the Knights arrive and soon the lobby is filled with them. I stand and move to the edge of the platform.

"Attention!" I say, snapping the Knights to look at me "As you all know we have a new goal and I have decided that I will assign an elite group of Knights to the task relating to Laughing Coffin and the rest of us will remain on scouting duty. I'm sure most of you are eager to hear which ones I have picked to find Laughing Coffin's hideout so revenge can be taken upon them" Cheers cut me off before I could finish my sentence "But unfortunately that is not happening today." the room slowly got silent "I have decided since everyone has been working so hard that today is a day off for the Knights!" I didn't pause knowing I should explain myself immediately "What I mean is this day is a free day, meaning you can do whatever you please. If you want to relax, go ahead, if you want to hunt feel free, even if you want to scout the next floor, no one will stop you. So do as you feel, today you are not forced to work but come tomorrow and it will be back to work." No Knight spoke "But I do have one order for a Knight that will take it. I want one of you to go and unlock the 56th floor teleporting gate so we can go there as soon as possible tomorrow."

"I will do it sir." A female Knight, with the name Shiba, with flowing green hair and sliver eyes responded.

I nod "Then I trust that task to you. Everyone else you are dismissed until tomorrow." The Knights obeyed and most seemed to be thinking of what to do with the sudden time off.

"So we're doing nothing today?!" Angelica yelled.

"We?" I say in mock confusion "I said every member of the Knights were free to do as they wished. We don't have to stay together. You want to go and, hunt? Scout? Whatever you want to do you can do." She smiled at that and without a word she went down the stairs leading to the floor from the platform and ran towards the doors. I turned to Lea and smiled and she nodded.

"Doran." Lea started "Can you come with me? I need to level up more, but I don't know if I can handle the monsters on this floor with just me and Rocky."

"I guess..." He muttered "As long as I have some time to relax afterwards." Rocky bounded down the stairs, Lea still riding him.

"Come on Doran, try and keep up."

Doran ran down the stairs, stumbling "W-Wait up Lea! You said you wanted my help!" He followed her out the doors.

Sienna who had been silent until now turned to me "What do you plan to do today Dark?"

I smile and take her hand "Allow me to show you." I say as I lead her out of the HQ. As we walk down the streets, luckily no blacksmiths bugging us yet, she asks me.

"Do you plan to tell me before we get to where you are taking me?" I slow down to a walk and she comes to my side.

"Me and you are a couple, right?" I asked her.

"Yeah...since the 20th floor...why?"

"What do couples usually do when they are not stuck in a virtual reality death game?"

"Well they usually spend as much time as possible together."

"On dates, and whenever they can. I have been with you since the 5th floor, and your boyfriend since the 20th and there has been almost no time me and you have been able to spend together. So today is a day where we can actually spend some time, with just the company of each other."

She blushed slightly "R-really? Is that why you set up this day off?"

"Partly, but I do think everyone deserves a day of rest now and then."

She smiles and kiss me lightly "That's sweet of you Dar-I mean Alex."

"I have my moments." I say, with a small chuckle and we arrived at the teleporting device.

"What floor do you plan to bring us to?" She asked.

I lead her onto it "This one. Floor 47, Hill Of Memories!"

We had arrived on the 47th floor and what looked to be a courtyard surrounded with beautifully colored trees and flowers of all shapes and sizes. Sienna went off the device and started to look around at the plant life. I remembered this floor clear enough. It wasn't a tough floor since we mostly fought some form of plants and fire seemed to do a lot of damage to them, and this floor was mostly safe areas, so we would not be fighting many, if any, battles and I changed from my armor to my casual clothes, which, as I said before, consisted of a loose black fitting shirt, navy blue pants and my black cape with the red Japanese character for Dark on the back. Sienna turned and noticed so she equipped her flowing blue dress.

"How do I look?" She smiled at me.

"As beautiful as ever."

She blushed slightly again and still smiling took my hand.

"So Sienna, is this a suitable place for our first date?"

"Oh yeah...we've known each other for a little more then a year and this is basically our first date..." She muttered.

"Yeah. You've kissed me, and slept beside me in my bed, before we even went on a date." I say in a teasing voice.

She looked down "S-shut up." Then she smirked "Unless you don't want me to do that anymore."

Well, she turned that back on me "I never said that Sienna and besides you wouldn't be able to hold yourself back."

She gave me a challenging look "You want to see who would break first?"

I pulled her hand so she stumbled towards me a little and I kissed her lightly "I lose. We're here to enjoy each others company not argue."

She nodded "You're right Alex. We won't argue anymore."

"Good. Now come on." I said, as we starting walking hand in hand.

As we continued walking we came upon a lake, surrounded by flowers and trees, just like the ones we came across when we first got here and Sienna let my hand go and ran to the edge of the wooden dock, looking over the water's surface and I took the moment to open my inventory, take an item out and slip it into my pocket before coming to her side, taking her hand in mine.

"Did you know this was here Alex?" Sienna asked.

"Yup. I led you here so you could see it and it seemed like an appropriate setting."

"For a first date?" She asked still looking over the water.

"Yeah. Am I wrong?"

She shakes her head "No. Not in the least." She said placing her head on my shoulder "You're so sweet Alex."

I smile as she says that "Like I said, I have my moments." We stood there for a while, as my thoughts started to drift about what I planned to do before the day was over. I was snapped from my thoughts by Sienna's voice.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"You seem a little distracted. You suddenly went quiet."

"I was just thinking about something." I said, deciding to tease her a little again "Worried I'm thinking of another girl?"

She let go and took a step back smiling "You better not be." She said giving me a small push. I wasn't expecting the push so I took a small step back, even through there wasn't much force behind it, and my foot never found ground as it went off the edge of the dock, and bought the rest of my body along. As I fell into the lake I notice I can see perfectly fine underwater and also that the lake is quite deep. As I surface I see Sienna looking over the dock, her hands behind her back.

"Oops." She said in a tone that told me she meant to do that to me.

"I don't believe that was an accident. You meant to push me in."

"Maybe." She said sitting on the dock, legs hanging over the water. I grabbed the dock and pulled myself out of the water.

"I did deserve that though."

"Yes, you did." She said, with a sigh.

"Something bothering you?"

"No..."

"Sienna, I'm here for you. Tell me."

"I'm just thinking about the real world...and us."

"What about us?"

"I know it's wrong of me to think this, but I can't help it and it's been bugging me. Once we return to the real world are we still going to be like we are..or are you going to toss me aside like none of the things we did in the game ever happened?"

I lay back on the dock "How in the hell could you think I would do that?" I ask, calmly.

"I don't know...it's just that this world isn't real...and-"

"Sienna. This world may not be real, but me and you are still real. We have the same bodies we do in the real world, the same feelings. My feelings for you are not going to change once we awaken. I love you and nothing will change that, ever." I say sitting up, looking into her eyes.

She seemed a little stunned "Really Alex? You really mean that?"

"Yes. I have a way to prove it too." I say reaching into my pocket.

"A way to prove it?"

I take my hand from my pocket, that is now holding a small black box and I open my hand to show Sienna it. She gives me a look of pure confusion before I use my free hand to open it to reveal a gold ring, a ruby attached to the top.

I take a deep breath before asking "Sienna, will you marry me?" I say, not believing I had just asked. I looked at her and saw she was completely and utterly stunned, speechless, and after a moment her eyes started to get wet, out of joy I hoped, and she placed her hands on my cheeks and pulled me into a passion filled kiss. As the kiss broke she nodded.

"Yes Alex, I will marry you." I smile and slide the ring onto her finger, still in a little shock that I asked, and she had accepted. As soon as the ring was on she pushed me down and got over me, as we started to make out.

We finally decided to head back to the 55th floor when night had fallen. Sienna was holding onto my arm tightly as we arrived on the 55th floor. We were headed to the Headquarters of the Knights.

"Alex?" She said, joy evident in her voice.

"Yes?"

"You really caught me off guard today with your proposal."

"I kind of surprised myself. I did it before I even realized what I was doing, but I'm happy I managed to do it."

"That makes two of us." She said tightening her grip a little more.

I kissed her forehead "As long as you're happy, so am I." We turned a corner and the gates of the HQ came into sight and so did the remaining three members of my party. They saw us, but waited until we came up to them. Lea, now level 67, saw the ring on Sienna's finger, which wasn't hard to miss, and smiled, knowing I had completed my plan and I returned the smile.

"What took you so long?!" Angelica asked, now being level 69.

"We were busy." Sienna answered with a smile, not letting my arm go yet.

"We didn't notice the time pass by so quickly." I said to them "Sorry to keep you three waiting."

"Where did you two go to spend the day?" Doran, also level 67, asked.

Sienna turned and smiled at me and I answered "The 47th floor."

"What did you do there?" Doran asked, confused as why we went to a lower floor.

Me and Sienna once again exchanged a look "Should we tell them?" I asked.

"I think so. You tell them."

"Okay. We went to the 47th floor for a date and-"

Sienna finished for me "And Alex proposed to me!"She said excitably, making the ring noticed as she let my arm go and held her hand out so they could see.

Angelica raised her eyebrows in mild surprise, but Doran was a different matter.

"He proposed to you?! He never told any of us about that!"

"I knew." Lea smiled.

"What?! How did you know?!"

"I caught him holding the box the ring was in and he dropped it in surprise when me and Rocky got closer, so he told me."

"But you didn't tell me about it?!" Doran asked turning to me.

"You didn't need to know." I responded plainly. Doran continued his rant and I ignored him.

Lea came up to me "Alex."

I turned to her "Sienna used my real name." I say "Can't blame her, she's too overcome with joy to care about the name she says." Sienna was busy talking to Doran, trying to get him to stop shouting.

"What about you?" Lea asked.

"What about me?"

"Are you joyful you asked her?"

"Of course I am. I'm just happy I didn't get rejected. Also thanks for distracting Doran for me."

She shrugged with a small smile "No problem. Don't forget that you saved my life."

"When did I do that?"

"On the first floor, and when Demise targeted you."

"Oh yeah..." I closed my eyes "Hard to believe I forgot about that."

"I'm repaying my debt to you...and just helping out a friend."

I opened my eyes "You have repaid your debt long ago. You joined my party and have helped us constantly."

Rocky trotted over to her side "Not only me." She responded getting onto Rocky's back.

"You and Rocky." Rocky looked at me for a moment before lying down.

Angelica interrupted mine and Lea's conversation "Dark, are we going to the 56th floor tomorrow?"

"Yes. It's back to work tomorrow." I told her as Sienna rejoined my side "So for now we need to head home and rest up." As we started to head home I reviewed myself. While in this game I had grown more confident with myself, became more observant, and gained leadership skills. I had also became the leader of the largest guild in this world. I came here as Alex, an average teenager. Now I was Dark, age 17, Leader of The Knights Of The Blood Oath and husband of Sienna. A lot can change in a year, and before another year passes many more things will change and one of them will be us, returning to the real world again.

Chapter 9 Offline

**What to do...if I continue at the pace I am going this story is going to be more way too many chapters...since it is on average 2 chapters per floor, and there are 44 floors left that's about 88 more chapters...I could always use a time skip again, but it would have to wait a while since I just used one...I am not short on ideas. I have the next 7-10 chapters planned out, maybe even more, but I am trying to think long term here...what will I do and when will I have to decide. I may put up a poll to decide how my readers want me to proceed, or if any of you have an idea that I may be able to use to avoid this problem, free feel to pm me. That's all I have to say, hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10: Twilight Town

Chapter 10 Online

I awoke slowly, as usual and smiled as I felt a feeling I had grown accustomed to, Sienna's body pressed against mine. Her arm was draped over me and I very slowly and carefully got out of the bed, not wanting to wake her. As I got up I noticed the ring that was on her left hand. I smiled as I remembered that we weren't just a couple any more, but husband and wife, of course once we returned to the real world our marriage in the game would mean nothing, but our love for each other would still be real. I left the room, trying to not make too much noise as I opened my bedroom door, closed it, walked down the stairs and to the front door and left through it. I walked to the edge of the cliff that the house over looked and I sat down on very edge so my legs were dangling. I guess today we were going to the 56th floor...but what should we expect when we get there? There was no way to know..unless... I opened my menu and started a message.

**Shiba**

**I trust you did as I requested of you yesterday and went to the 56th floor and activated the teleporter so we get there quickly. I want to know the name of the floor and anything that may be of use to know about it. I await your response.**

**Dark**

Once the message was sent I laid back and looked at the sky awaiting for the others to awake so we could head to the next floor. After 10 minutes had passed I heard the door open and I heard more then one pair of footsteps coming towards me.

"Good morning Lea and Rocky." I say looking over my shoulder to confirm my guess."

"How did you know it was us?" She asked coming beside me.

"I heard both of your footsteps."

"Oh, I thought you guessed."

"Nope, I knew this time."

"Are we allowed to call you Alex?" She asked

"I don't mind as long no one else is nearby. Wouldn't want the wrong person to hear the name and come after me once we escape this game. Once we'll out I want to put it all behind me...except for the friends I have met." I said giving her a small smile, which she returned.

"That's one good thing that came from this whole situation. We got to meet new friends."

"Yeah, but we were pulled from our families. That's another reason I want to get you all out of here. I don't your families to suffer over a lost family member."

"Why are you suddenly talking about escaping the game...again?"

I thought back and realized I did it a lot "Well the closer we get to the end the harder it is to not think about it. I want to see my family again...it's been more then a year now."

"I understand that. I think we all feel the same about wanting to escape this game."

I smile "I bet you're right and not just any of us in the party. I'm sure everyone that is stuck in this game wants to get out and reunite with their loved ones again."

"Also, Alex. My true name is Lyra."

"Lyra. That's a nice name."

She smiled "Thanks." She got onto Rocky's back "Should we go and wake the others now?"

"I guess so. We should get moving soon." I get up and Rocky bolts right for the front door. Once we get to the guild I have to give the order to teleport to the 56th floor and- wait...I have to tell everyone the group that will be hunting for information for Laughing Coffin. Why do I attract Pking guilds? Demise was a constant annoyance since the very 1st floor and still attacked me after their hideout was destroyed and their leader dead. Now Laughing Coffin is hunting me down because I am the Leader Of The Knights Of The Blood Oath. Well as long as I get out alive. I enter into the house and see Lea sitting on the couch and Doran coming down the stairs.

"You beat Sienna down here today." I told him.

She grinned "That's better then before. One time I will defeat you one day."

"Maybe. But until you beat me it's your job to wake up Angelica." I said with a mocking smile.

"Oh great." He said rolling his eyes, as he walked to the stairs. I beat him to them and headed up and to my room. I opened the door and found Sienna still asleep on her back, blanket pulled up.

"That's a first." I say as I walked over to her and shook her lightly "Sienna, time to wake up." She groaned and opened her eyes before pulling you down and kissing me deeply. After a moment she broke the kiss ,and sat up, revealing she was dressed in her battle clothes.

"You were already up weren't you?" I asked her.

She smiled "Yup. Just wanted to surprise you."

"Well you managed. I didn't expect that. Anyway, Doran should have awakened Angelica by now we should go down." I turned to go and she grabbed my hand pulling me back.

"Remember yesterday before you proposed to me, the question I asked you?"

"About if I would toss you aside once we escaped?"

"Yeah...I'm sorry I asked that...it was really rude of me to even think that of you."

"Don't worry about it Sienna."

She nodded and stood up, kissing me yet again "Just so you know I'm not going to do that to you either. I may never let you go and we meet in the real world." She told me smiling.

"I wasn't worried about it." I said as she took my hand. As soon as I opened my bedroom door to leave, a message appeared "Shiba." I said as I tapped it.

**Dark**

**I did as you wanted me to and I checked around the floor. There is a barrier all around the town that I appeared in so the boss must be in the town. I also did a little scouting and no monsters spawned. I think the whole floor is a safe zone, and also the town is smaller then the ones on most floors so finding the boss should be much easier then before. The floor is called 'Twilight Town' and it is always twilight here. I will see you at the guild later.**

**Shiba**

"What was that about?" Sienna asked.

"Information about the 56th floor I requested from Shiba. It's smaller then most floors and it is called Twilight Town."

"So we may pass it quickly?"

"I hope so, but the boss could be a lot harder to locate even if the floor is smaller."

"What if it was meant so we would find the boss quickly? What if that floor was meant to be easier then others?"

"If it is then that's a reason to be worried. Why would the 56th floor be easier to find the boss then any of the other 55th floors below it? If what you suspect is true it may mean the boss is almost impossible to defeat..."

"Or maybe we are catching a break?"

"Catching a break where we are never safe from other players or monsters that want to eat us, or just kill us? Slim chance of that."

"I'm trying to be Optimistic about this Alex..."

"Well I am a pessimistic person. Didn't I tell you that before?" I say with a smile. Once we get to the stairs I see Angelica is up and ready to go, but don't comment on it or she most likely would have kicked me like she usually does when I bug her.

"Everyone ready?" Lea nodded

"Yeah." Doran said.

"About time! Let's hurry and go to the 56th floor!" Angelica shouted.

"We need to go to the HQ first."

She sighed "Fine, but let's make it quick."

* * *

Once we entered the HQ every Knight (Which I'm pretty sure was all of them) turned to see me and I walked past them to resume my spot on the platform, my party right behind me. I started right away.

"The 56th floor teleporter has been activated and we will head to it today. The information we have of it is this. The name of the floor is Twilight Town, the floor is much smaller and takes place in the one town, no monsters are known to spawn there at this moment and it may be a lot easier to find the boss, but I have a feeling that the boss will be much stronger then others if it is easy to find. We need to be ready for anything." I paused a moment to catch my breath "That's all we know about the floor so before we head there I need to announce the group that is going to hunt for any information relating to Laughing Coffin. The members are as follows: Zyra, Shiba, Eren, Yi and the leader will be someone that can be absolutely trusted, Asuna." Three females stepped forward, Zyra, Shiba and Asuna and two males, Eren and Yi came up beside the "This job is of utmost importance. Laughing Coffin poses a serious threat against me and therefore threatens the whole guild of losing another leader. I am trusting you 5 to do all you can to locate their HQ so we can wipe them out. This job is dangerous, but I trust in your skills." They all nodded "If you 5 understand you can start your search and if anything is found you are to message me immediately." the five Knights left and I started again, taking a teleport crystal out "The rest of us will head to the 56th floor." I activated the crystal "Twilight Town!"

* * *

We arrived in the town and I looked around as the other players started to appear. It looked like an old style town. Beside me stood a bell tower and straight ahead of me was a well. Behind us there was a stable, nothing living inside of it. As the last of the Knights appeared I turned to them.

"We are going to split into 3 groups. One led by me and Sienna, one lead by Lea and Angelica and one led by Doran." I pause and look at my party directly "If you think you have found the boss door you are to message the other leaders of the group. Do not enter alone. You are to split yourselves up."

It took about 20 minutes until the Knights had separated into groups and me and Sienna were leading the largest group while Lea and Angelica had the smallest, which may have been for the best.

"My group will go north, Lea and Angelica you go west, Doran you go east. If nothing is found we will meet in the south part of town." I say as I start to walk, Sienna's hand in mine. I kept my eyes open, making sure I didn't miss anything that may have led us to the boss. After a while I realized something and turned to the Knights under my command.

"Spilt up in this selection of the town and search inside of the buildings. We may find what we are searching for in one of the buildings." the Knights did as I told them but I had idea if we would find anything many of the buildings were to large to search every inch of it. I thought of what sienna has said before and smiled.

"Sienna, you said maybe this floor was mean to be easier then the others, right?"

"I said it was possible."

"Well I may have an idea then." I looked around and saw a building with a tall tower coming from the top. It was a church and the tower had a bell that rung when the worshipping of gods would begin "Come on Sienna." I said leading her into the building.

"What are you thinking?" She asked, knowing I had an idea.

"I'll tell you in a minute. I found stairs leading up and as I got into the bell tower, that no longer had a bell, I looked out the window "I'm trying to find the tallest building. If this floor was meant to be easier then the boss door would be in the tallest building."

Sienna let go of my hand and looked out a window on the other side of the room and giggled slightly after a moment "Alex, I think we are in the tallest building."

I walked over to the other window and looked out "I think you're right." I said, looking over the other side of the town "Let's see if we can find the boss door in here then." I said, going down the stairs quickly, Sienna following behind. I went into the place where the worshipping would usually take place and looked around "Now where could the door be?" I asked myself as I walked around "It would most likely be in plain sight and not making us tear the place apart."

After about half an hours passes I give up.

"Maybe I was wrong. It may not have been in the tallest building." I tell Sienna.

"Well we will find it at some point."

I nod "Yeah." I go in front of the desk where the leader of worship would usually stand and then I walked behind it and as soon as I put my weight on the plank wood floor behind it it broke and I fell into through the ground and down a flight of stairs it seemed like forever until I finally stopped rolling down stairs.

"Alex, you okay?" I heard Sienna call out, her voice sounding fall away.

"I'll live." I call back up. I stand up and turn around finding a door made of a mix of diamonds and brass "Sienna, message Doran and Lea. Tell them We may have found the boss door."

* * *

It didn't take long before me and Sienna had gathered our group together again and the other two groups joined as in the worshipping room. I stood in front of them.

"We have found, what we believe to be the boss door. It was harder then I expected to find, but the boss may still be harder to take down then the bosses we have fought before, but as long as we are prepared we can defeat it." I walk to the entrance to the stair well "If anyone feels they are not ready speak up now." I say waiting to see if anyone says anything. When no one does I continue "All right. Then we shall continue." I lead the way, my party directly behind me and the knights behind them. We reach the door after moment and I place my hand on it, pushing it open and entering. I enter very bright and warm room, and the radiant light feels somewhat, welcoming. There are small orbs of light dancing through the air as if they were living things. In the middle of the room there is a young girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed in a white skirt that falls just above her knees, and she seems to be enjoying the sight of the dancing lights. I walk a little closer and her piercing blue gaze meets my eyes and a name appears above her head, Naomi, The Last Light.

"Why have you come here?"

A feeling of dread enters my body as I realize she is this floor's boss. She tilts her head after I don't answer, like she is expecting an answer, like any kid would. Can I really bring myself to kill her...she may be an npc, but she's only a young girl.

Chapter 10 Offline

**Fast paced...forgive me for the fast paced chapter, but I will make it up to you all in the next chapter, which I am very excited about writing.**


	11. Chapter 11: The Spirit Of Light

Dark and the guild stand before the young girl that is the boss. Will Dark be able to bring himself to defeat this boss to advance?

Chapter 11 Online

Silence filled the room, no one knowing how to react until Naomi spoke again.

"Why have you come here?" She repeated still expecting an answer.

I clear my throat before answering "We have come to advance to the next floor so we can get closer to returning home."

"Home? I want to return home too."

I gave a glance behind me to see others were just as confused as me "You want to return home? Where is your home?"

"I... don't remember."

I wasn't sure how to react. I was talking to a young girl, who couldn't have been more the 8 years old, that was the boss of this floor...and she was telling me she wanted to return home, which was not even possible for an a.i program. I had to issue the attack order sooner or later, but could I?

"Sir?" One of the Knights called out.

"What?" I asked, not turning to them.

"Are we going to fight this little girl?"

"Of course!" one of the Knights called back to him, angrily "She's the boss! We'll in luck that it's just a little girl! Let's attack and finish this quickly!" The Knight said charging at her.

"Stop!" I called out, but he ignored me.

Naomi's eyes widen as the Knight ran at her "W-what are you doing? Stop!" She shouted as the wisps of light suddenly reacted and flew at the Knight, tearing through his armor and through this body. He staggered and fell to his knees.

"W-what the..." He said coughing a little, before crawling back to the group, slowly.

"She controls the lights." I muttered as two wisps floated to her sides and started growing and expanding, forming two knights of light at her side.

"Dark..." I feel Sienna squeeze my hand and I turn to her, and I know instantly what she wants to say "I know. You don't have to."

"She's only a little girl...why would she be the boss?"

"To mess with us, many of us would never hurt a kid in real life. You don't need to attack...I will spare you the burden." I remembered that time, when it was only me, Lea and Sienna and she told me what happened to her friend and how she would not let another person get hurt if she could help it...this was the worst type of boss for her.

"...You have to issue the attack order..."

"That's a burden I will bare. Everyone-" I was cut off more of the wisps started to formed more knights of light until their numbers matched our own "Great...this isn't going to be good. Everyone we have no choice but to break through her force of Knights before we can defeat her!" Both armies of knights charged at each other.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Naomi shouted over the noises of fighting "I just want to go home like all of you!"

I sighed and stood back from the fighting, along with my party, I placed my hand to my head in frustration and annoyance. "Lea, Doran, Angelica...go and help fight the Knights." They agreed to right away, even Angelica, not wanting to make me even more stressed out then I already am.

"Dark..." Sienna muttered

"I couldn't issue the attack order...She may be an npc, but she's still just a young girl..." I drew my sword "Looks like I may not be fit to be a leader if something like this stops me..."

"It would affect anyone if they were forced to fight a little girl and have a whole army behind them."

"I'm the leader of the strongest guild in Aincrad...and something like this stops me."

"She acts like a human would, being afraid in the face of an army of enemies, trying to kill her for a reason she can't understand. She was made to be as human like as possible to throw us off."

"As human like as all the enemies in this game...wait a minute...maybe..." I walk to the Light Knights and call out "Naomi, The Last Light!" Both armies of Knights stop and a part of the Knights split allowing me and Naomi to see each other.

"Y-yeah?" She askes meekly.

"I wish to speak with you. Will you allow me to approach you?" She shakes her head.

"No! You're just trying to get close enough to kill me!" She yells, close to tears.

I draw my sword and the light Knights ready themselves, until I drop it. I also take my dagger and place it on the ground beside my sword, I then put my hands up near my head "I am now of no harm to you. I have no weapons on me." I turn to the Knights "None of you are to come near here." I turn back to Naomi "May I approach you?" she looks at me in a mix of confusion and suspicion but doesn't answer. I take a step and the light Knights stay spilt and unmoving.

"I don't what you are thinking, but I'm not letting a chance like this pass us by!" One of Blood Knights called out, making a dash for the split in the line of light knights. I quickly turn and swing out, connecting with his face.

"You are disobeying my direct order!" I say angrily "If you do anything like that again you will be expelled from the guild!" He stays where he is, surprised by my anger and I start to walk through the light knights. As I get closer one of the knights swing a sword at me. I ignore it.

"Dark!" Sienna calls, but the sword stops an inch

"I am not a threat which is why you don't get your knights to kill me, right?"

She nodded slightly, still watching me carefully.

I get to be about a foot in front of then I kneel to eye level "I can tell you do not want to fight us, by how scared you are. Let me ask you this. Do you know of anyway that we can avoid fighting against each other?"

She shakes her head no, but then responds "M-maybe...but it's dangerous..."

Before I can respond a message appears in front of me. **Quest Update: Do you wish to save the girl in front of you?**

I hit the yes option without taking time to think.

"I didn't choose to be here. I was taken here and bonded to this place with only these wisps of light to keep me company." Naomi began "I was given no choice. The Spirit Of Light is the one that brought me here and made me become Naomi, The Last Light. The way to free me is to defeat the Spirit Of Light. It is much more powerful then me. Do you still want to try?"

Another message appears in front of me, **Are you sure you wish to unbind the force that is keeping Naomi prisoner?**

I think for a minute and turn to the guild "Prepare yourself! Naomi, we will unbind you from this place!" I hit the yes button and run through the light knights as they disappear, grabbing my sword and dagger again. Suddenly the wisps of light start glowing brighter and Naomi runs into the corner of the room, scared. The wisps start to dim so we can see that where Naomi was a minute ago now stands a large knight of light. It has four bars of Hp and above it is the name 'Spirit Of Light.'

"So this is our new opponent." I say matter of factly

"M-master, what did you just do!" A female knight asked me.

I turned to the guild and smiled "Well...I kinda activated a quest...So now we need to fight this thing. Naomi said it is a lot more powerful then her...and unlike her it may be hostile from the start." I turned back to the Spirit Of Light. I saw that it's armor was made of light and it had no weapon, but the wisps had not disappeared, and those were more dangerous then weapons we could see. The Spirit stood there as one of the wisps suddenly flew at Doran and collided with him, breaking through his armor, like it did with the other Knight, but it sent him across the room, and into a wall.

I was surprised, but knew that wouldn't take Doran down "Everyone this boss is much more powerful then if we just fought Naomi, but we need to win to continue now! Watch it's attacks and strike when you see an opening!"

* * *

"You're not in danger of dying." I said as Doran stood up "I can't blame you for not avoiding the attack."

"It was fast. It also really hurt."

"Well it tore through your body and with enough force to send you across the room." Sienna, Lea and Angelica were trying to figure out a pattern that the boss followed while I made sure Doran was alive "Are you going to keep fighting?"

"Of course!" He said standing up "A wound like this can't keep me down!" He said running to the group of Knights. I followed and joined with the other three of my party.

"It hasn't attacked yet?" I asked.

"No...it hasn't." Lea said.

"It must be scared to attack!" Angelica shouted.

The Spirit waited for a moment before it's form started to change and within a minute's time it had spilt into 10 floating swords of light. Suddenly all ten swords flew out among the Knights. We all reacted quickly, our swords already drawn, the knights that the swords flew at quickly dodged, blocked, or parried the strikes and the swords quickly changed targets. One of the swords went for me and I deflected the strike downwards and placed my foot on the blade as I brought my sword against the middle of the blade, somehow breaking the light it was made of. The swords retreated and flew back to the middle of the room where they reformed the Spirit Of Light, now with 10% of it's first bar gone. I broke one of the 10 swords, and it took 10% of it's health. Does that mean if it splits into multiple objects, depending on how many we take out, we can damage it?

"If it splits again focus on one of it's forms and take it out!" The Spirit started to change form again, and after a moment it had spilt into almost a a hundred bats of light and they all flew right at us, swarming around us. I felt fangs and claws digging into my skin as the bats flew by.

"Kill as many as you can!" I called out as I rose my sword in the swarm of bats "Cutting Barrage!" I released the 5 waves into the swarm taking out quite a few from the sounds by were making. My attack has caused an opening and I ran out it, being able to see again for a few seconds before a large bat, about the size of a bike flies at me and takes me the ground as it's fangs sink into my neck. I drew my dagger and stabbed into the light bat's neck and as it made a sound of pain I pushed it off of me and stabbed my sword through it, causing the swarm of bats to return and start to fuse together again. I look at my group and see many of their health bars are down a little from the bats.

"We'll doing okay for now." I say to them as I turn back, expecting to see the Spirit Of Light, but instead of being the knight that it first appeared as, it was now a huge dragon of light!

"This isn't good...archers prepare yourself!" I said, never taking my eyes off our enemy "If it takes flight take it down immediately! Swordsmen, stay back and do not try to attack unless we take it out of the sky and even then be careful!" I rose my sword "Cutting Edge!" I shot the wave at the enemy and it took flight and went over my wave.

"Fire!" I shouted as a hail of arrows flew overhead and hitting the dragon, taking it to the ground right away "Attack!" I shouted as all the ones that used swords and other close combat weapons ran at it. The dragon seemed dazed and unable to react, but as soon as the guild reached within sword's length the dragon stood suddenly and let out a roar as it lashed it's claws out and leaned down opening it's mouth and biting at the group of Knights. I saw that it had knocked a large portion of them aside, but I also saw two burst as soon as they hit the wall.

"Two..." I turned and saw one was in the jaws of the dragon and a moment later the teeth bit him in two, causing him to burst a moment later "Three..." I muttered. The deaths of the three Knights seemed to drive the others on as they used more force in their strikes. The dragon spread it's wings and flapped them a few times, creating wind that blew the Knights away as it started to change form again. As it did I went to Angelica and Sienna who were near each other.

"Three Knights are lost." I told them as if they didn't know "I'm putting you two in charge. If you sense something is about to go wrong ignore the orders I gave and order the Knights as you see fit."

"Understood." Sienna said, glancing at the corner of the room where Naomi was still sitting, in fear.

"So our commands are higher priority then yours?" Angelica said, smirking.

"I guess you could say that." I say, not wanting to start an argument at this time. I turned back to the Spirit and saw it had once again changed to a different form then it's first one. It towered over us all, like all the other forms had, and it's body was slender like a snake, but many limbs were attached to it's sides and each limb ended with a sword-like edge.

"Be ready to-" I was cut off as the spirit moved, with amazing speed, and went by me, cutting me as it went. I fell to the ground, since my legs had been damaged as well as just under my left eye and a slash from my right shoulder to left hip.

Sienna knelt down beside me and noticed my leg "Are you going to be able to stand?"

"I'll manage somehow." I saw my bar had changed from green to yellow. I noticed a Knight burst, along with three others "Four, five, six, seven...Damn it." I opened my inventory and tapped on the item named, 'Numbing Bandages'. The item makes it so my wounds wouldn't hurt so I would be able to stand, but of course the wounds could get worse. I got to my feet.

"I am sick of this!" I shouted out of anger, catching the guild's attention and even the boss seemed to listen as it stopped it's attacks. With my inventory still opened I tapped an item and equipped it. My blade disappeared and was replaced by the great sword that Cero gave me, named 'Black Flame'.

"I'm giving up my speed for more strength to take this boss down faster! The more damage it takes with each strike the less risk we have to lose more people!" The boss seemed to take that was a challenge since it came right at me at again. I stood my ground and swung my sword hoping I had the timing right. My sword connected with it's head and it reared back in pain and scattered into wisps of light that reformed in the middle of the room as the Spirit's Knight form again. The damage it took from when it was in it's dragon form and from my attack just now had taken it's health bar to just under three bars.

"One bar down" I said before the Knights called out.

"Three more to go!"

I smiled as I turned to the guild. I once again had the Knights completely behind me. The Spirit changed it's form again. What stood before seemed equally as dangerous, if not more then, as the last form. This form was a giant, towering over us, sharp teeth, three arms on each side of it's body and a sword in each of them. The swords alone were taller then all of us.

"Form groups. If a sword comes down, all block together!" I say as I don't so as I said and we wait for the Spirit to attack. After a moment it rose all six of it's swords and brought them all down upon us. I jumped to avoid one as it came directly at me and the sword smashed into the ground.

"Now it's time to deal some real damage!" I shouted as I did something I had done many times before with other monsters. I jumped onto the Spirit's arm and ran up it. The Spirit hardly seemed to notice me as it rose it's swords from the Knights.

"Dark, What are you doing?!" Lea shouted up at me, calling attention to me.

Sienna shook her head "If we fight an enemy bigger then us, you can count on Dark climbing it..."

"It works Sienna. I can deal more damage to the enemies if I am on them." I called down taking my two handed great sword and stabbed into the Spirit's shoulder. It still ignored me as it slashed down at the Knights. The Knights were managing somehow, but sooner or later something was going to go wrong. The durability of their swords would hit 0, they will get too tired to lift their swords to defend, there was quite a few things that could go wrong. I had to make it change it's form...but how? An idea went through my head and I thought how hard is skin, made from light to cut? I slashed down near the neck of the Spirit and my sword cut through easily.

"About equal to human skin." I noted as I placed my sword on my back and drew my dagger and stabbed it into the side of his head, trying to climb up to the top of it's head, but that time it took notice and shook it's head, almost taking me off. I looked down and shook my head. The fall would kill me, and on the slim chance it didn't, I wouldn't be able to move easily. I hold on tightly until it stopped shaking it's head and then I make sure my dagger was in and then I climb up a little, put on foot on the dagger and pushed off it, hearing it break as I land on the very top of the Spirits head. I kept my balance and looked down to see a few pixels raising.

"Eight..." I drew my sword from my back again "Well it's going to pay for that now. I jumped from it's head to it's side and held my sword in front of me. I was just a little behind it's arms so I wouldn't land on them, but my sword did hit. One arm was cut cleanly off, then as my sword met the next one there was a little resistance since I didn't have as much speed, but still cut it off, then the third one my sword cut about halfway before it came to a stop. I climbed on the arm and tried to pull my sword free, but wasn't able to. I grabbed my sword with both hands again.

"Cutting Edge!" Since the edge of the blade was in the arm, the wave shot downwards, severing the last arm on that side and sent me falling to the ground.

"Didn't think this out too well." I thought quickly as I smacked into the ground, on my back and I felt my head hit and my vision went black. I opened my eyes and wasn't sure if I got knocked but Sienna was now by my side and the Spirit was letting out a sound of pain, like a roar.

"Ouch." I muttered sitting up.

"You are far too reckless Alex."

"And yet you still agreed to marry me." I say teasing her a bit "How long since I hit the ground?"

"Your recklessness is something I must deal with, and no more then a minute."

"That really hurt..." I said getting to my feet and instantly regretting it as I collapsed to my knees "Not steady yet..."

"You did bang your head pretty hard." The arms that I had cut off just now burst, turning into wisps of light and rejoined into the Spirit as it changed it's form. I got to my feet, putting my arm around Sienna for support as we got away from the Spirit before it transformed. The monster that stood before us had a lion shaped body, but it had wings on its back and a scorpion like tail, A manticore. I glanced at the hp bar and saw there were about one and a half bars were left. Good to know my reckless actions had a big effect on it. I moved my arm from around Sienna and drew my sword again.

"Are you sure you're alright now?" Sienna asked.

"I'm fine." I said smiling reassuringly at her.

Before she could respond the Spirit spread it's wings, took to the air and flew down at us. Most of the Knights dodged it, but some of the Knights held their ground and slashed at it's paws and tail as it jabbed at them. The Spirit landed and roared as it turned to us. I noticed that this was the only form where the eyes could be seen, maybe it could be blinded.

"Archers, aim at the eyes! Try and blind this creature." The archers responded immediately and arrows rained upon the beast. It used it's wings to protect it's face and the arrows bounced off of them.

"Sienna, the flesh made of light is easier to cut through then normal flesh. Can you try and cut off at least one of the wings from their weakest point, the spot where they are attached to the body?"

"I could try." She said as she activated her End With One Strike skill. At least she could get close to it that way.

"Archers keep firing!" Arrows kept coming down upon the manticore and it kept it's face covered but it was starting to walk forward as it did. I noticed Sienna had already gotten on top of it.

"Wow...she works fast..." I muttered turning to Naomi, who was now watching the battle intently. I walked towards her.

"Where are you going?" Doran asked as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

I turned "Doran, until Sienna comes back from her 'mission' you are in charge."

"Me? I'm not suited to be a leader!"

"I won't be gone long. Just handle it." I say as I continue walking towards Naomi. After a moment she turns to me and fear enters her eyes, but as she sees me she relaxes a little.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I tell her.

She nodded "I-I know...you're the one that accepted the task of freeing me...and you are managing to defeat him..."

"Not without our own losses. Yet those that have fallen will not die in vain. We are going to defeat this boss, and soon we will get out of this world and return home."

"Home..." She muttered. Just then a roar of pain rang out through the room and I saw the manticore's right wing had been cut off and Sienna tried to move to the other one, but the tail swung and knocked her off, but she flipped in the air, landed on her feet and moved back to the group.

"Looks like we may be close to winning." I said looking at her "Just stay here a little longer." I say to her before turning and running back to the group. As I reach the group I run past them and towards the Spirit.

I raise my sword above my head "Blade Throw!" I threw my sword, still running and it slid from my grasp, flying and entering the manticore's right eye. I tried to stop but I slid a little too close to the boss and as it's roars filled the chamber, it's tail came at me and cut right across my left eye, revenge. I moved back and wasn't surprised as it changed it's form yet again, reverting to it's Knight form. My vision was damaged thanks to my eye getting cut. I noticed when it was changing it's form again my sword had dropped. I moved quickly and grabbed it but the Spirit attacked me with it's sword and I rose my sword in defence and stopped it a little late. The blade had entered my shoulder about an inch before my sword had stopped it from entering any deeper. I tried to push up, but the light sword wouldn't move, so I was stuck with it's sword in my shoulder and still in his grasp. I realized that it wasn't going to change it's form either.

"Archers, all of you that can, use Arrow Bombs!"

"But sir, you will be hurt as-" A Knight tried to point out before I cut them off.

"Just fire!" They obeyed yet again and as they flew through the air I moved my arm a bit, so the blade wasn't in it and I ran as fast as I could so I didn't get blown up. The arrows hit and wisps of light flew from the smoke and flew behind us, reforming the Spirit against the back wall. We all turned and I moved to the front. It's final bar was at about 90% from the arrows.

"We can really beat this thing!" I heard someone call from behind me.

I turn to them "Of course we can win! We are The Knights Of The Blood Oath! The strongest guild in Aincrad!" I shout out to encourage them for the last stretch of the battle. Cheers filled the room "Now let's finish this battle." I shouted. I rose the great sword over my head "Flaming Edge!" I swung the sword down, releasing the flaming wave, but it was much faster and as it connected with the Spirit it knocked it right off it's feet. Using the great sword increased my skill damage as well as my normal attacks...good to know.

"Dragon's Flame!" My sword burst into flame and since the Knight was on his back I came from above and stabbed my sword into it's chest. I saw the health bar drop to 85 to 80 to75 and finally stopped at 70 before the Spirit swung it's hand at me and smacked me right off of it and got to it's feet. It swung it's sword into the ground, sending a blast of light at us from the tip and it knocked more then half my Knights back and to ground, it also dealt a fair amount of damage.

"It's original form seems to be the weakest...why is it staying in this form...?" I muttered to my self as another volley of arrows flew at it. Smoke filled the area as some of the arrows blew up and Lea came up to me riding Rocky, crossbow loaded.

"Is it almost defeated?" She asked looking at the smoke.

"It should be. Why?"

"Because I only have a few arrows left. The Lizard poison ones you got me on the first floor are the ones I still have the most of, but they are useless against this thing."

"So you are low on arrows."

"Well I used a lot in this battle...I didn't know I would go through so many."

"Don't worry about it. This battle is close to over. There's no way we could lose now." The smoke started to clear and I saw the bar was at the half way point.

"We'll close." I smiled as it was confirmed.

The Spirit seemed to notice it's hp and the wisps that were still floating around fused into it, making it larger and it's blade changed in design, meaning it would most likely do more damage. We were too close now, nothing like that could prevent us defeating this boss now.

"Do not stop firing! We almost have it defeated!" Arrows kept firing "Sword fighters! We will all attack it, you are to avoid the sword and warn others if it is about to swing. We are going to defeat this boss with this last charge!" The Knights cheered and the sword fighters charged, myself at the front. As soon as any of the Knights got into sword range their swords were slashing, stabbing and thrusting at the parts of the Spirit that were in range. The spirit seemed unable to do much with many people around, we were overwhelming it! It tried to swing it's sword down and everyone avoided it.

"Attack the sword and we may be able to break it!" I ordered and many of them did so, and after a moment a crack was heard and the sword shattered under the impacts of many blades. I looked up and saw the Spirit's hp was red.

"This battle is over! We are victorious!" As soon as I said that the Spirit suddenly unleashed a wall of the light wisps it had taken in and blasted us back from it, and knocking the archers off their feet. I was the first one that was up and aware of the situation. The spirit had shrunk down to my height, but it was no longer focused on us. With the broken sword in hand it walked towards a corner of the room. The corner Naomi was in. I realized immediately what was going to happen. I ran as fast as I could and the Spirit rose it's sword getting ready to take Naomi down. I wasn't going to make it! I forced myself to go faster. Time seemed to slow down. The sword came closer to Naomi and I was going as fast as I could. The sword was a few inches away and Naomi closed her eyes. I dived and landed on the ground, blocking the sword less then an inch from Naomi's skull. Time reverted to it's normal speed. I was surprised as I did that, but I did not hesitate. I pushed against it's sword and stood up, getting a better position. I managed to push it's sword enough so I stood in between it and Naomi.

"So you know you lose and you aim for the little girl? That's not an honourable way to die. Besides we can't let you kill her. We lost 8 of our guild mates in battle, because of my choice to try and save this girl. If I allowed you to kill her, they will have died in vain." I disarmed the Knight and it didn't react at all "You have lost to The Knights Of The Blood Oath!" I jump into the air and bring my sword down, cutting it directly in half. The hp bar drained to 0 and the Spirit burst, along with the wisps of light. I saw Naomi's title, the Last Light, disappear and she had one bar of health now. A message appeared in front of me, telling me I have levelled up 3 times from the fight.

"Three times?!" I muttered loudly to myself. Me and Sienna are the strongest and I bet she levelled up three times too...was it really that much stronger then I thought. I tapped okay and the final strike message appeared.

**For beating the Spirit Of Light you have gained The Shards Of Light.**

The Shards Of Light Helmet

The Shards Of Light Chestplate

The Shards Of Light Bracers

The Shards Of Light Leggings

The Shards Of Light Boots.

I tapped okay but then the message continued

**Also for completing the quest of releasing Naomi from the force binding her here, every Player that survived this fight will gain a passive known as 'Naomi's Light' This skill gives an extra skill slot for the player, so they can put any skill (Ex. Cooking, foraging, black smiting, etc) in it that they wish to start learning.**

I had just enough time to read the message before it disappeared and the giant 'Congratulations' that appeared whenever a boss was defeated appeared, triggering the message to all the other Player's that they have gained the skill 'Naomi's Light.' I turned back to Naomi who I had just saved and she seemed a little stunned.

"Y-you beat it...and p-protected me..."

I smile and put my sword back into the sheath on my back and I lean down in front of her "Naomi. You are no longer being held here against your will. You are set free." She looked at me a moment and nodded, tears of joy welling in her eyes and she grabbed me, wrapping her arms around me.

"Thank you." I smile and hug her back and whisper something into her ear "R-really?"

I smile "Really." and lift her up easily and turn to the Knights.

"The Spirit Of Light is defeated and Naomi has been set free!" The Knights cheered and I waited until it died down "We shall continue onto the next floor as soon as all of the wounded are tended to." I say as some of the Knights take note of the injured. My party comes over to me as I'm still holding Naomi, who is holding onto me tightly.

"So she's set free now." Doran said "But it seems she has a tight grip on you."

"I noticed. I did protect her from the Knights and the Spirit Of Light."

"You saved her life, just like you did mine when we first met." Lea said, smiling a little.

"You have a gift for saving people, even if it may mean your death." Sienna sighed.

"So since she is free what's is she going to do?" Angelica asked, not very interested in the answer.

"I have an idea." I turn to Sienna "It involves you most of all, Sienna."

"How does it involve...wait are you going to-"

"I think you know. How would you feel if we were to 'adopt' Naomi." I ask her with a grin on my face.

My question seemed to catch Lea, Doran, Angelica and even Rocky off guard a little, but Sienna must have known it was coming since she just smiled.

"That sounds like a great idea." She answered and Naomi loosened her grip on me and turned to Sienna. I waited a moment and none of the others protested against Sienna's answer.

"Then it seems as if it's decided. Naomi you are part of our family now."

She smiles and reaches out to Sienna. Sienna smiled back and put her sword away, before taking Naomi from me. One of the Knight came over.

"Sir, all the wounded are tended to. We await your command to continue."

"Right. I'll give the order in a moment." the Knight moved back "Sienna, we had been married for about a day, and now we have a child." I joke before turning to the Knights "Just so there is no misunderstanding, Naomi has been 'adopted' into my family. Now onto topic. We will now begin our trek to the next floor. We have no idea what to expect and it may be late so if it is night we shall turn in for the night. Onwards!" I say as I start to walk, Sienna carrying Naomi behind me, followed by Lea, Doran and Angelica and finally the rest of the Knights. We walk up a flight of stairs, and as we do the sounds of water become noticeable. As I get to the door of the 57th floor the sounds of water are the only thing that can be heard. I push open the door and am greeted by three things. The smell of salt water, the light of the moon and a message: **Welcome to the 57****th**** floor, Abandoned Fishing Town.**

I looked around and saw most of the buildings were destroyed and most of the docks were broken. There were a few ships, but they all seemed pretty desolate and lifeless.

"Nightfall has arrived. We will turn in for the night and tomorrow we shall meet at HQ."

* * *

We arrived at the house now, Naomi holding one of mine and one of Sienna's hands as we walked in. Lea, Doran and Angelica went to their rooms and me, Sienna and Naomi stopped at the top of the stairs. We had one bedroom that had never been used.

"Naomi?" Sienna asked kneeling down "Do you want to have your own bedroom, or-"

Naomi cut her off "No. I want to sleep with mommy and daddy."

I chucked a little at the suddenness of her statement and Sienna looked at me with mild amusement.

"Well I have have no problem with that. Alex?"

"I'm fine with it as well."

"Then come on." Sienna said leading Naomi, and me by extension since Naomi still held my hand, to the room. She opened the door and opened her inventory to get out of her armor and into a pair of sleeping clothes she got since her dress wasn't comfortable to sleep in. I opened my inventory and changed, ignoring the armor I had gotten and also noticed something beside my equipment tab and I tapped it. It opened another inventory and equipment diagram. At the top of the inventory I saw it said 'Naomi'

"Sienna...I have access to Naomi's-"

"Equipment and inventory? Same here"

"Yeah." Naomi took no notice of our conversation as she let our hands go and sat on the bed.

"Maybe the system knows we adopted her." Sienna smiled, lying in bed and Naomi cuddled against her.

"Maybe." I said as I got into bed beside the two of them. Naomi was asleep in a few minutes.

"What have we gotten ourselves into now?" Sienna asked.

"What do you mean? Like how we have an NPC child now?"

"Yeah...I'm not saying it's a bad thing" Sienna said looking down at Naomi and smiled "But it happened suddenly."

"I know. Just like how she suddenly called us mommy and daddy." I point out.

"Yeah that too. Well it looks like me and you may be busier then we first thought Alex."

"I don't think she will be much trouble." I tell her "Now try and get some sleep, we have a new floor to look over tomorrow."

"Goodnight Alex." She said closing her eyes, and I did the same. After a while I heard Sienna's even, deep breathing. I took a moment to reflect on what she said. We may be busier, but if any of what my mom had said to me before about having a child is true, then it will be well worth the trouble. I flel into an easy and peaceful sleep.

Chapter 11 Offline

**I am giving all the credit of Naomi and The Spirit Of Light to Cloak Of Shades. He's helped me by coming up with two amazing, and fun to write about bosses, and I want to thank him for another idea he has given me for a little later on and for the new member he has added to my story. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.**


	12. Chapter 12: Plans

Dark and his party start their search for the 57th boss.

Chapter 12 Online

I awoke and could feel that my right arm was numb and unmovable at the moment. I turned and saw that sometime during the night Naomi had latched onto my arm, cutting off feeling from it. It was only then I remembered that Naomi was mine and Sienna's adopted daughter. I never from the beginning of this game did I suspect something like this happening. To be honest when I decided to start fighting I was more of a unsocial person, and I had planned to stay alone, and if I joined boss fights I would separate from the group as soon as possible...but then I accepted a request from someone to join with them, then I saved Lea and that's where I gave up on that idea. Not that it was a bad thing, just very unexpected. Why am I suddenly thinking about this now? I shook those thoughts from my head and very slowly slid my arm from Naomi's grip and stood up. Next up was the 57th floor. Wonder how hard the boss will be there...and how the group hunting Laughing Coffin is doing. I opened my inventory and messaged Asuna.

**Asuna**

**I was hoping you would respond last night, but I'm going to guess you were waiting to either tell me when you found something, or just waiting to tell me at the guild that nothing has been found yet. Either way I want to know sometime today what has happened, even if if we are no closer to finding them. Also some bad news...in the boss fight yesterday we lost 8 Knights. They didn't die in vain. Thought you should know as the Vice commander Of The Knights.**

**Dark**

I sat on the side of the bed and was so deep in thought that I didn't notice a movement on the bed and someone grabbed me from behind, I jumped from surprise and turned to see Naomi was awake and smiling.

"Did I scare you Daddy?" She asked, a playful smile on her face. I stood and picked her up.

"You got me when I was deep in thought." I said smiling back.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"Saving me and taking me into your family."

"We didn't choose to take you in just so you would be grateful. We took you in so you would be safe."

"But you also saved my life." She said as she hugged me and I hugged her back.

"Looks like you two are getting along." Me and Naomi both turned to see Sienna was awake and now propped up on one elbow. I put Naomi down and she jumped on the bed and hugged Sienna.

"Good morning Mommy." Sienna hugged her back.

"Good morning Naomi." Sienna responded. I smiled and then realized something, were we going to take Naomi to the next floor? Bringing her will slow us down and we will have to focus on protecting her as well as ourselves. I pushed that thought from my mind as I opened my inventory to check the status on the Shards Of Light Armor I had gotten for defeating the Spirit Of Light. Like expected it granted me more armor then what I had worn in battle, and it also had a regenerative ability and also gave me an increase to attack. I looked at the weight of the armor to see how much speed I would lose wearing it, but instead of saying the words light, or heavy it just said none. Did that mean this armor would not hinder my speed at all? I think about putting it on until Naomi grabs my arm.

"Let's go downstairs Daddy." She said, also holding Sienna's hand.

"All right." I smile at her then up at Sienna, who is also smiling. I lead the way and as we leave the room Naomi smiles and let's go of our hands.

"I'll wake the others up." She says and me and Sienna head down stairs, Sienna holding my hand.

"Are we bringing her to the next floor with us?" She asks suddenly.

I look at her "How do you always know the exact question I am asking myself? To answer your question I haven't figured it out. I was planning to ask you about it as well...but you beat me to it. What do you think Sienna?"

"I don't think it's a good idea...she's a young girl and she has a normal health bar now so she will be able to be damaged by enemies."

"Yes, but she has an equipment tab, and can equip armor and weapons...not something we have, but we could buy some for her."

"Yeah...but I feel a little..."

"Uneasy about bringing her?" I ask "I understand. The whole guild went through a lot to save her, and we lost more Knights then we should have, so if something were to happen to her and her health was drained, all that work would have been for naught. Also she may slow down our search for the boss door. I say we bring her for today, just so we can see what the floor is like then we can decide."

"All right." She said still looking worried.

"You can stay at her side at all times to protect her if you want." I tell her and she nods.

"I will." We heard noises upstairs and then Lea and Rocky came down the stairs.

"Naomi has a loud voice..." Lea said and Rocky whined in agreement.

"Sounds like getting her to wake you up is a good idea." I say as Naomi comes down the stairs.

"I woke them up." She said, a huge grin on her face. Doran came down the stairs and looked at me, an annoyed look on his face.

"Why did you send her to wake me up? She's so loud..."

"I didn't send her to. She volunteered and I decided not to stop her."

Sienna giggled and was looking at the top of the stairs and I saw Angelica coming down and Sienna whispered "At least we know she can get her up quickly."

I whispered back "Yeah, that's good to know."

Angelica came down and gave me a glare "Never send her to-"

"I didn't. She volunteered to."

"...You should have stopped her."

I smile and pick Naomi up "At least we know you won't take your time if she wakes up." She glares at me again, before kicking me in the shin again "Ouch! You have to stop doing that..."

Naomi looked at her "Don't hurt Daddy!" That seemed to surprise the other three members of my party and I chuckled a little.

"She started that last night. For me and Sienna both." Sienna smiled.

"Alex, did you hear anything from the group hunting Laughing Coffin?" Lea asked and I took note that Doran and Angelica both noticed the use of my real name.

"Yes, you two my real name is Alex, and Lea, no I have not heard back from Asuna or any of the others yet. Hopefully they will be at the guild today..." I paused for a moment "Why didn't I think of this before." I opened my menu and went to message, and composed a message to a few members of the Knights, telling them not to bother waiting for me or party and to head to the next floor and start searching for a head start.

"You 4, including Naomi, go to the next floor as well. I am going to head to the HQ and see if Asuna or any of the others are waiting."

"We're bringing Naomi to the next floor?" Doran asked "She's just a kid..."

"She's bringing her, and we'll see how the floor is." I told him putting her down."

"I'll meet you on the floor." I say taking a teleport crystal out.

* * *

I got through town with no problems and entered the HQ. AS I entered my footsteps echoed in the empty hall. I sighed as I saw it was empty.

"Seems like it was a waste of time coming here. Asuna hasn't answered my message either...I hope her and the others are okay." I opened my inventory, intending to take out a teleport crystal, but then realize I had lost something in the battle against the Spirit Of Light that I should replace. I left the HQ and walked through town until I came upon a certain weapon shop. I walked in.

"You here?" I called out.

"Oh, so the leader of The Knights Of The Blood Oath came to visit me?" Cero said from beside me, seemingly appearing from nowhere and I jumped back in surprise.

"How did you do that?" I ask dismissing the question "But yes, I have come to ask you if you have a certain type of weapon."

"What type?"

"A dagger. I had one but it broke in the most recent boss battle."

"You break a lot of weapons. I do have a few daggers. So, how has the great sword I gave you been working out?" He asked going behind the counter.

"It helped me defeat the last boss."

He smiled at that "Did you tell the Knights who you got the sword from."

"Um...no I didn't...sorry." I muttered.

"I was joking. I don't want to sell any of my weapons to the inexperienced kids you let into the guild."

"We needed more people...the guild was very underpowered when I took control." I told him, walking over to the counter where he had three blades. One was black as night, one was as white as snow and one was a mix of yellow and purple, and the blade was jagged like a lightning bolt.

"These are the best ones I have. Each unique in their own way."

I looked over the three blades "Mind explaining how?"

"I was hoping you would ask." He said as if he was a kid in a candy shop "The black blade, Moon's Shadow, is the strongest of the three and has a temporary blinding effect on the enemy it hits. The white one, Snowstorm, is second in strength and once it hits an enemy it slows them, and the effect stacks and can make them unable to move at all, and the final one" He picked up the yellow jagged blade "Thunderous. It has a low base strength, but when ever it hits an enemy it sends a jolt through your foe and numbs their body and deals more damage."

"They all sound pretty good, depending on the situation as well. How much do they cost?"

"I knew you would ask, and this time I will charge you." He said chuckling "10'000 Col for anyone of them."

I looked at them again "30'000 for all three?" I ask

"You plan to buy all three of them so depending on the situation you can use the right one?" He asked, basically reading my mind.

"That's the plan." I answered simply "If you will allow me to buy all three."

"If you have the money why would I not sell them to you. Can you show me the items in your inventory?"

"...Okay." I opened my inventory and placed all of the items I had gotten from monsters on the table, and some on the floor after the counter was full.

"Do you horde items?" He asked, surprised by the sheer amount of items I had obtained.

"No. Just never have much of a chance to sell them or get them foraged into something."

"Let me see your sword."

"Why are you asking to see everything I have?" I asked drawing my gold edged long sword.

He took it from me and looked it over, examining each inch of the blade. After a few minutes he handed it to me.

"It's a sword."

I looked at him confused "Yeah...I already knew that..."

"But it is not worthy of the guild leader of the strongest guild in Aincrad."

"I know where this is going. It's a sales pitch, right?" I asked.

"You caught me. But you are too poor to afford my offer at the moment."

"Really?" I ask opening my inventory again "I have more then 500'000 Col."

"Not enough."

"Are you serious?"

"What I would be offering you is a one of a kind sword. It would be an item only you, the Knights Of The Blood Oath would have! It would be a symbol pkers would fear and all other players would respect! Everyone would-"

"Okay, I get it." I said cutting him off "I understand why it's so expensive, but would it be strong as well?"

"Of course. If a sword was to be a symbol of yours it would have to be strong! A bane of all the evil in this virtual world!"

I let out a sigh "You get too excited over a sword." I said gathering my items up.

"I can't help it."

I paid him the 30'000 col and equipped Moon's Shadow, storing the other two in my inventory "So for this sword you are offering to forge for me-"

"The price is high. You shouldn't worry about it at the moment. You cannot have enough money to buy it at this time."

"So I should come and talk to you after I manage to accumulate a lot of Col?"

"Yes."

"All right. I better go now...my party will be waiting for me on the 57th floor."

"Why do you never bring your party with you?"

"I'm usually separate from them when I come here. I didn't plan on coming here today anyway."

"All right. Also I heard from your Vice Commander that you are trying to locate Laughing Coffin."

"I sent a group to locate them."

"Why do you have a hatred for that pking guild?"

"Well I don't like pkers in the first place, but Laughing Coffin targeted me and sent an assassin after me. Of course since I am still here it's clear who won, but I can't take the chance."

"You are an exciting young man. Well you should meet up with your party again, try not to get yourself killed."

"I'll be careful." I say leaving. I take a teleporting crystal and continue to the 57th floor.

* * *

I appear in the town, no other players in the area. This floor must be pretty big if I can't see any of the other players. I walked down one of the docks, thinking a few things, mostly if I should message one of my party members or Asuna. I stand there for a moment before I notice bubbles coming from the water. I lean over and see something move beneath the surface and I try to figure out what it may be. Suddenly something huge comes out of the water and up at me. I stumble back and see a giant fish, and a large part of the dock in it's mouth, where I had just been. It goes back in the water, but not under as it keeps it's eyes locked on me, like it was wondering why I moved.

"Stupid fish...I'm not coming back on the dock or anywhere near you, so get out of here!" It stayed there for a moment longer before diving back into the water and hopefully away "What a way to die...being eaten by a fish." I stand up and make sure I am away from the water.

"Hey, it's you." I hear a male's voice say. I turn and see a face I haven't seen in a while.

"Kirito." I said recalling the name from memory.

"You remembered my name." He said with a slight smile "And yours is DarkBlade, or Dark as you are more widely known."

"Yeah, that's true. It's been a while. Last time I saw you was" I pause "I'm pretty sure it was at the tournament I set up when you beat me in the final round."

"That was a tough battle."

"And a good one."

"Yeah it was. You have made quite a name for yourself since then. Becoming the Leader Of The Knights Of The Blood Oath, on top of everything you have already done in the game."

"What else have I done worth remembering?" I ask him.

"Well people still remember the tales of when you beat the boss lizard when you were half it's level, how you protected your allies from Dragoon, the 5th floor boss, taking out Demise, but of late it's been about how you took control of The Knights after the death of the old leader, and how well you have been doing."

"Because of my orders many Knights have been lost in battle."

"That would happen with any commander, and there is proof that you are doing well."

"What would that proof be?"

"You have Laughing Coffin after you."

"You heard from Asuna I presume?"

"Yeah. She told me about how you were hurt in a fight against an assassin and how you gave her group an order."

"When did you see her last?"

"Yesterday evening. Why?"

"I messaged her this morning and got no response."

"I'm sure she's fine, just busy."

"I hope that's true or more Knights, including her will have been killed because of me."

"Daddy!" A call pierces the air and a moment later I feel someone grab me and I look down to see Naomi. I pick her up and see the look on Kirito's face.

"It's a long story." I mutter.

He nods "I won't even ask about it."

"Naomi?" A voice calls from behind me and when I turn Sienna notices I'm holding her and runs over.

"Naomi, don't run off like that."

"Sorry Mommy."

Kirito chuckled "Like I said, I won't ask."

Sienna smiles a little "She's taken to us like parents."

Kirito notices the ring on her left ring finger "You two are married, aren't you?"

I nod "I purposed to her not too long ago."

Sienna blushed slightly "Catching me off guard."

"Well it's good to know you two are still on good terms. Dark, if you are gong to attack Laughing Coffin message me and I will assist you and the guild."

"Understood."

"Until next time." He said as he left.

"How long have you been on this floor?" Sienna asked.

"Before you two found me, about 10 minutes."

"You were talking to him the whole time?"

"No...in the first few minutes I was on a dock, thinking and I almost got eaten by a giant fish..."

Naomi giggled a little and Sienna did as well.

"You need to be careful Alex." She said with a smile.

"I know." I said realizing something "Where are the others?"

"Angelica wanted to find the boss room before anyone else. Lea and Doran went with her and I stayed with Naomi."

"Any enemies spotted so far?"

"Very few. A few giant birds came, but that's about it."

"That fish that tried to eat me may have been an enemy as well. Anyway Us three can look for the boss door our selves." I said put Naomi down "Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah!" Naomi smiled.

"Yes. I think we can protect Naomi if we have too." We started to walk on the outskirts of the town on the island, closer to the water, but not close enough to be eaten by giant fish. All of the houses we go by have broken windows and broken down doors, and in the water were pieces of broken ships or ships with torn sails or beached on rocks, holes created by them.

"It looks like vikings or pirates attacked the town..." Sienna muttered.

"And the town pillaged, and all the citizens murdered."

"That's a little dark..." Sienna muttered.

"What would you expect from me? It's in my name." I say joking "But of course that didn't happen since this is how the floor was created."

"Yeah that is true. Do you think we will be able to find the boss door?"

"Not today." I tell her "In Twilight town we went to the biggest building and managed to find it, but we may need to search each house and search for a basement...would houses on islands usually have basements?"

"I don't think so. Isn't there water under the houses as well?"

"I think,,,not that it matters in the game."

Naomi had been quiet until now "Mommy, Daddy, look at the ship." She said pointing. I followed her finger and saw she was pointing to a moss covered ship, that was amazingly in one piece, but the thing that caught my eye was the flag. It was a black flag with a white skull and crossbones, a jolly roger flag, a trademark of pirates.

"Sienna...do you think we found it?"

"Maybe." We started to walk closer and nothing appeared. We got right in front of the ship and as soon as my foot touched the board leading onto a ship something appeared at the top. A man with a red and white striped bandana and a cutlass in hand stared down at us.

"State ye business on this mighty vessel, or be cut down where ye stand."

I removed my foot from the board and lead Naomi and Sienna away and the man didn't react.

"We found it." I opened my inventory, messaging my party, telling them where were and to tell any of the Knights they see on the way to follow them and I also messaged a few Knights to do the same "All we can do is wait. The boss is going to be the captain." I say

"Most likely. But how strong do you think the captain can be?"

"No idea, but most the captain can have is 2 swords, we have 100 times that."

"You two can beat him." Naomi said smiling.

"I'm sure we could." I respond "But a captain has a crew and against them and the captain, we would be at a disadvantage." I let out a sigh "Hopefully I won't lose any more Knights in this battle."

Sienna put her arm around me and pulled me into a hug "You are so hard on yourself." She said "You can't expect that we would not lose anyone."

"More then halfway through the game and I still feel useless when I have so many lives being lost under my orders."

"Yet all the Knights still follow you without question and trust you."

I nodded "I know. I just wish I could help protect them more." I say looking at the ship "Why have the last two bosses been so easy to find?"

"Maybe we are just being lucky." Sienna suggested.

"No...I don't think so. The boss on the 56th floor we may have been lucky, yet we suspected it to be in the biggest building and it took us a while, but it was there. Now this one is in plain sight...it just doesn't seem right."

"I guess I understand why you would expect something like that. But maybe we should be happy that the bosses are easy to find."

"Maybe you're right Sienna. Maybe I'm just too cautious." I say, smiling slightly.

She smiled back "That's better." We waited for a while and soon a few Knights started arriving and they asked where the boss was and I pointed to the pirate ship. Surprisingly Lea, Doran and Angelica were the last to arrive.

"Where's the boss?" Lea asked.

"The pirate ship behind me." I answer.

"Why did you find it?!" Angelica shouted "I wanted to be the one who found the boss!"

"Knowing you, if you found the boss you would try and take it out yourself." Sienna muttered/ Angelica glared at her before turning around and kicking Doran.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"If I kicked Sienna Naomi would get upset." She answered easily.

"But why kick anyone then."

I shook my head and laughed to myself. I was about to say something to the Knights when I saw movement from the corner of my eye and the Knights started muttering and pointing. I turned to the movement and the sight that I saw made my heart jump. A player was staggering towards us, but that player wore the red and white armor of the Knights. It was Asuna, but her marker, along with her health was red, and she had cuts in her armor and over her body that the armor didn't cover. I ran towards her, worried since she was wounded, but also she was the only one of the group I sent to find Laughing Coffin in sight. As I get closer she stumbles and starts to fall but I manage to close the gap and catch her before she falls. I kneel on the ground, holding her as the Knights surround as.

"Asuna?" I say hoping she didn't pass out.

She slowly opens her eyes and manages to sit up, I slowly move my arms back.

"Asuna." I repeat "What happened?"

She looked down and I instantly knew she was the last one of the group "Laughing Coffin knew we were searching for them. We found their HQ, but as we found it we were ambushed. They outnumbered us, and I managed to take a few down...but it was useless and once all the others fell...I had to run..." The Knights started muttering and cursing in disgust. I sat there on the ground, my anger staying hidden beneath my calm exterior. I stood up.

"Our plans will not change. We will continue with the boss fight as planned."

"Are you serious?" One of the Knights called out "Our allies were killed and you are saying you want to let them get away with it? We should attack them now and get revenge for our fallen comrades!"

I turn to the one that shouted "Our plans for today have not changed. Tomorrow we will attack and destroy them. They will be expecting us to attack today, and they would be prepared and that would lead to the deaths of many other Knights. We will continue to the boss battle today." No one rejected now "Naomi, you stay here with Asuna. We will return once the battle is won." Naomi agreed easily and Asuna did as well. I move from the circle of Knights and turn back to them "We will most likely be looking at a boss fight where the boss has minions and the battle will be held upon the ship so we have very limited space, so all I can say is be careful." and with that I started to lead my party towards the ship. Knights Vs Pirates. This will be an interesting fight.

Chapter 12 Offline


	13. Chapter 13: Captain Jayce

Dark and his party board the Pirate Ship, unaware of what they are going to face.

Chapter 13 Start

As we approached the pirate ship again, the same man appeared at the top of the board leading onto the ship and started to repeat his message.

"State ye-"

I swung my swung across his chest "We're here to take down the captain." The man fell into the water and I, followed by my party and the guild, walked onto the ship. It was much bigger then it looked, but there was still limited room, not to mention that the crew of the ship had already spawned and looked over as soon as my foot touched the wood of the ship. The crew kept watching as I walked forward and some of the guild managed to come onto the ship, my party staying directly behind me. One of the crew, cutlass in hand, came closer.

"What do you think ye be doing setting foot on this mighty vessel?"

I noticed a boss had not spawned and I answered "Where is your captain?"

"You wish to be meeting with the dreaded Captain Jayce? The most dreaded pirate that ever sailed these seven seas? You must be wishing for death!" He started laughing and the other crew mates joined in.

"What are you going to do Dark?" Sienna whispered "We need to make the captain spawn to continue."

"I know." I say, walking closer to the crew member and swinging my fist into his face, making him get knocked back into a few other crew members. He glares at me as I point my sword towards him.

"Either get the captain out here, or I'll kill you all first and then I'll find him myself."

"You will walk the plank for that. Attack!" He shouted.

"Prepare for battle!" I called to the Knights.

* * *

The battle had began and I already knew it was not going well. The space on the boat was taken up almost completely and there was almost no room to move, so the only way to avoid getting hurt was to defend with your blade, there was no dodging on this ship, but as we kept killing more of them, more room would free up, but we still had to find the boss. I stopped two cutlasses that were aimed for my neck. I pushed them back and readied my skill.

"Cutting Edge!" It cut through the two pirates in front of me but the others must have been ready as they used their blades to stop the wave. I moved back quickly and turned to Sienna who had just stopped an attack.

"Sienna, I know there's not much room, but can you manage to use your multi-strike and take down a few of them?"

She smiled "I can sure try." She said as she activated the skill, disappearing instantly. I saw pixels bursting from the crowd as she moved through them.

"Let's hope she manages." I mutter as I turn to pirates again, noticing they are respawning "Damn it...so it's not as simple as killing them all." I jump onto the edge of the ship and look at the water and reminded myself to be careful not to fall in or a fish may try eat me again. I grabbed onto the many ropes leading to the masts of the ship and climbed a little until I saw a cabin, most likely the captain's cabin. I moved to the edge of the ropes and jumped, landing near the wheel of the ship, just past the cabin's roof and where no pirates were. I moved quickly and jumped over the railing onto the roof of the cabin. Some of the pirates noticed me and started to come at me, when suddenly the sound of wood hitting wood sounded and a booming voice roared out.

"What is with all the noise out here!? I'm trying to sleep." I could see the man's back as he walked away from the cabin, and he saw the Knights.

"Who be you people?" He asked, an annoyed tone in his voice.

"We are The Knights Of the Blood Oath!" I called from behind him and he turned to see me "And I am their leader!" The captain wore a black pirate hat, with the Jolly Roger in the middle of it, but the edges were trimmed with gold thread. He wore a red coat, that looked more like a cape a king would wear and unlike most pirates in movies or tv shows he had no eye patch on, no hook for a hand and no peg leg, he saw me and took a few steps towards his cabin, his boots clicking on the wood, as I stood on the roof.

"And why are ye and your friends on me ship?"

"We are here to proceed to the next floor of game."

"Well you could have said so before slaughtering some of my crew. You said ye be the leader of this group of landlubbers?"

"I am."

"Then come into my cabin and we can try and end this peacefully." He walked into his cabin. I jumped down in front of the door.

I waited but saw nothing but darkness beyond the door "Looks like I have no choice." I called out, walking in, only to have the door slam shut behind me. As soon as it closed the room became bright from the sunlight coming in through the windows. The captain was sitting at a table, one chair on the other side. I sat down at it, not really knowing what to expect.

"Now about this whole thing. What be your name?" He asked.

"DarkBlade."

"I am Captain Jayce. Now ye want to continue your adventure and get out of this 'game' right?" He asked

"That is correct."

"Well, that can be arranged with no fighting whatsoever."

"What do you want?"

"Well ye woke me up, killed members of me crew and came upon me ship with no permission. You better have some booty on ye, cause you will have to pay for ye damages."

"How much?" I asked tightening my grip on my sword.

"Three hundred million Col."

"What if I don't have that much Col?" I asked, not surprised by the cost.

"Then ye will pay with ye blood!" He said pulling a cutlass out and slashing at me, missing as I moved back, and cutting the table in half. His four bars appeared and his name appeared as well 'Captain Jayce, The Black Death.' I drew my sword and noticed that in his free hand he rose something of shining silver. I had just enough time to see what it was before it was aimed and fired as the loud bang filled the room. I didn't move fast enough and felt the bullet tear through my skin. I ignored the pain that shot through the entry wound in my left hand.

"A gun...that's just not fair."

"I'm a pirate mate, I don't play fair."

"I'll remember that as I'm killing you!" I shouted as I dashed at him, only dodging to the left as he shot at me again, I managed to get in blade range and I swung my sword at him and he stopped it with his jewel encrusted cutlass. I moved back and sidestepped and swung again, but he blocked it again. I quickly moved back and went at him with a flurry of attacks, which he stopped easily.

"Ye are quite the skilled swordsmen, but you think it be a wise choice? Crossing blades with a pirate?"

"I'll never know until I try." I decide to make a run for the door and see if I can't get a little help against him. I soloed a floor boss once before, and I did not want to do it again. I pushed back and ran for the door and grabbed the knob, and turned it, or tried to turn it. As I tried turning it, it stopped without turning, and no sound could be heard from the outside. I sensed danger and moved just as the bullet was fired and it jammed into the door.

"There will be no help from them. Me crew will handle them."

He's skilled in sword fighting, and he has a ranged weapon at his disposal, not to mention the limited room his cabin gives me, What can I do to hurt him?

"Ye giving up already mate? The fun be just beginning!"

"I haven't given up." I said as my sword burst into flames "Flame Whip!" I unleashed the whip at him and he tried to stop it, but a part of the whip connected with his cheek as another part connected with his sword arm.

"Don't play with fire on me ship!" He shouted as he shot three bullets incredibility fast and accurate, I was surprised I managed to avoid that, and I saw he was reloading his gun. This was my chance! I ran and quickly brought my knee up and hit him in the face, before drawing the Moon's Shadow dagger from my left side, my left hand throbbing from the bullet hole and I stabbed both my sword and dagger into his back, twisting them just a little. Once I pulled my blades from his back he stood up and laughed. I moved back, worried he may retaliate.

"Well, this landlubber shows some promise, this may be fun." He said, smiling, showing crooked, yellow teeth.

"I am the leader of The Knights Of The Blood Oath." I smiled as I realized something. The bosses are usually hard because of their giant size, long range, the range of attacks they have and the fact that they have minions with them most of the time. This boss had none of that, unless you count a gun as long reach and the fact that he does have minions, but not with him. I could win this easily.

"You are nothing compared to what I have faced before." I said to him.

"Then we are even mate. You are nothing to what I have seen in my years of piracy! I have fought Krackens, many the sizes of me ship, I even slew the legendary Leviathan!"

"I have fought pkers and thanks to that I have experience on how to fight humanoid beings. You have no chance against me!" I shout, running at him and unleashing attack after attack, after attack. Each of which he was avoiding. I stopped attacking as our swords connected once more.

"Ye should learn, to be wary of a foe." He rose his gun aimed it at me "Remember I don't play fair." He shot and the bullet tore into my knee and I fell, my sword disconnecting from his.

"So much for me having no chance." He said slashing down my back "Ye can't defeat The Black Death!" He said bringing the sword down on the gap between my neck and left shoulder. I lifted my sword and stabbed it into his stomach.

"I never get taken down so easily!" I say as I force myself to stand "Cutting Barrage!" I shout as my sword is still buried in his stomach. The first wave ripped him off of my sword, and the others flew at him, cutting him deeply. He stood up, his side torn open and his health already down to two bars.

"Not much defence either...good. I mutter as I fall to my knees again.

"You...are going to regret you came aboard me ship..." He said as he dropped both sword and gun, which burst as they hit the ground. I opened my inventory and drank a potion and placed a bandage over my leg, that relieved pain and I stood again.

"Now it's time to show you what I can really do..." Captain Jayce suddenly pulled out a hi-tech looking sword. The hilt was much wider then a normal sword and it had a button on it, but it also looked as if the blade could spilt.

"So you are trading in both a gun and a sword for that sword?"

"Ye will soon regret those words." He said dashing at me. I sidestepped the first attacked and parried the next one, but I was not so lucky the next time as the third one managed to stab into my right shoulder now, the blade, as expected spilt open as the button was pressed. What I did not expect was the inside the hilt of the sword was a gun muzzle, which promotely shot through the two halves of the blade and into my shoulder. Numbing pain went through my arm and my sword dropped from my hand as he pulled the gun/sword hybrid from my arm and the two halves went back together, the muzzle of the gun hidden away again.

"Hahahahaha, yer are as weak as I thought. You aren't worth anymore of me precious time."

I glared at him "You are faster, and you have a one handed weapon that is a mix of your first two."

"What is the point you be making?"

I ran at him and despite the pain going through my hands and arms I swung my fist into his face, catching him off guard and giving me time to punch him again, sending him to the ground this time. He stood and looked at me.

"You are pretty strong, but you really think fighting me bare handed will help you win?" I stay silent and he runs at me and swings his sword at me and I grab the blade with my left hand, getting it cut deeply.

"I may be without a weapon at the moment" I say as I grab the hilt of his sword with my right "But what if I do this?" I say as I yank the sword from his hand and take it in mine.

"You do not have permission to touch me sword!"

I smile "I didn't ask." I stabbed it into his chest and pressed the button, resulting in him taking a sword wound and a bullet in the chest, but he wasn't stunned as he punched me, sending me to the ground, near my sword.

"I may have underestimated you a wee bit."

I grab my sword, no matter how much pain was going through my shoulder "A wee bit? Trust me, you will fall to me and then maybe you will understand how much you really underestimated me." I moved and held my sword at my side and waited.

"Looks to me you be all bark and not the least bit of bite." He said as he took a few steps.

"Dragon's Flame." I was suddenly behind him, my sword through his back and stomach, aflame. It's been a while since I had used this skill, and I wasn't sure why since it was a very damaging move. Captain Jayce seemed stunned and didn't move forward to get my sword out of him for a few seconds. Once he does he staggers a little then turns to me, and I take the moment to see his health, already on his final bar. Maybe I over levelled a little, but he may be weaker then usual bosses because it is a solo fight. I stood there and saw he was still being damaged by the fire from my sword. The fire now disappeared from my sword.

"You have done a great deal of damage to me. But as Captain I can't surrender to an enemy...Nor would I want to!" He came at me now, attacking wildly, but with easy to block attacks. I wait until he rises his sword high and slash up his chest and he hesitates for a moment before continuing his onslaught of attacks. His attacks were easily to block but he only had a few openings that I would try and take advantage of. He rose his sword and I took the chance again and stabbed, but he side stepped and got behind me, stabbing the sword into my back. A moment later I heard and felt the blade split before a bullet fired, tearing through my body. I stumbled and saw my health drop to the yellow zone. I took the black bladed dagger out again so I could fight with both now. We both ran at each other and our swords clashed again. I wasted no time. I stabbed my dagger into his stomach and then brought it up, into his throat. He staggered and made his sword aim at me as it spilt.

"Your bullet won't kill me even if it hits." I smile seeing his bar was red and close to empty.

"Final Bullet: Sea God's Vengeance!" Suddenly the bullet shot out, but as soon as it left the gun, an energy encircled the bullet, changing into the shape of a trident. I seemed unable to move as the trident slammed into me, not only knocking the wind out of me, but burning away my health. The next thing I knew I was on the ground, and I couldn't move, that was all I was able to figure out from where I was. I heard footsteps coming close.

"Well, it looks as though my final bullet dealt quite a bit of damage to you."

"Fuck...you." I said with a cough.

"I would expect that from a fallen warrior. Your days of adventuring, end here."

I stayed silent hoping I could do something. My sword had been blown away in the blast and so did my dagger. I opened my inventory silently and tapped the IceStorm dagger hoping I would have a chance to use it as I held it in my right hand.

"Maybe you should be killed in front of your group. Then they will surrender easily!" He said pulling me up to my feet by the collar.

"You are wrong.." I muttered, now realizing I had a large hole in my chest "The Knights will not surrender if I am killed. They will fight to avenge me!"

"Troublesome."

"Too bad I don't plan to die!" I say as I stab the dagger into his chest. He lets my collar go and I fall to the ground again the dagger still in my hand. I manage to look at him and see that his health is just above empty.

"Too bad. You didn't kill me." He smiled again, showing his yellow, crooked teeth again.

"Or so you think." I whipped the dagger at him, hurting myself again and the dagger caught him just under the ribcage.

"A captain always goes down with his ship..." He said as his health emptied and he burst. I was given a level up message and then a final strike message 'You have gotten the 'Cargo Hold Key' ' I should have been happy but at this point I couldn't move and I felt like I was on the point of blacking out. I was in a state where every sound seemed to merge together when I heard the door open then voices, but I didn't know who was talking or what any of them were saying, and soon all went black.

* * *

Darkness. That seemed to be my life for many hours, or maybe it was my life. Maybe Sword Art Online wasn't real and I would wake up in my room and get back to my normal boring life, or maybe Sword Art Online was real and I was in the game, but none of what I thought had happened was really true. Maybe all of what happened is really just a dream and I will be awaking soon and realize none of the people I met are really real and were just created by my mind. Nothing seemed real and I couldn't tell truth from lies. DarkBlade, the name came suddenly. Realization came right after. I am DarkBlade. I am the one that formed my party, I have taken over the Knights Of The Blood Oath after the Death Of Takumi! I have done everything I can to protect my party. I am DarkBlade! The darkness seemed to clear away as voices became clearer and some words could be made out. I heard a groan, not sure it was from me.

"Think...coming..." A voice said.

"You...sure?" Another voice asked and I started to feel my body again. My fingers twitched and felt smooth wood under them. I felt my mid body come into feeling just to be greeted by pain, and slowly, but surely, my body was once again under my control, but I couldn't seem to open my eyes, but I felt a railing behind my back, so I was sitting up and my head was down.

"Is he awake?" A female voice asked.

"He got himself beaten up pretty badly this time...who knows if he will awake soon?" That was a male voice.

I let out a groan and tried to open my eyes again, and it worked now. I slowly opened my eyes and muttered "I'm alive." Suddenly I felt arms wrap around me.

"You are an idiot Dark...but you managed."

I smiled a little, recognizing the voice now "I had no choice Sienna." I say now looking up, seeing all of the Knights with their eyes on me, and my party beside me "I really got myself beaten up, didn't I?" I ask.

"That's an understatement." Angelica said "One more hit from anything would have killed you."

"You had us worried Dark...it didn't help when one of the cabin walls were destroyed." Lea added.

"He was not as easy as I thought...he caught me off guard with that final attack..."

"At least you managed to live through it." Sienna said, relief in her voice.

"I'm not an easy one to kill." I say, before turning serious "How many Knights were lost in this battle?"

"2." Doran answered "One was killed by the pirates and the other one was to close to the cabin when that shot was fired."

"2 Knights. Better then what we had done before, but still annoying." I took note of my injuries and saw they were all covered and my health was up a little as well. I grabbed the railing and pulled myself up.

"Dark, don't push yourself!" Sienna said, worried.

"I'm fine." I told her, which for the most part was true. I was able to walk, but not without pain "Besides I have something I need to handle first." I said as I walked to the stairs leading below deck "Come." I say as I go down and have my party and some of the guild behind me. I find a door and turn the knob, finding it locked. I open my inventory and take out the key and I put it in the key hole. The door opened and I walked into the room and saw a room full of treasure and a message appeared in front of me **"You have unlocked the door to the Pirate's Treasure room! As a reward you have gained a massive amount of Col. Received 2'500'000 Col." ** I stared at the message confused, surprised and happy and I heard other messages pop up to my party and to the guild, and from what I was hearing they didn't get as much as I did, but I kept quiet.

"That was the boss reward? The key to the room?" Doran asked.

"Yes. I think it's a good reward...despite my injuries."

"Well is this what you had to handle?" Sienna asked.

"Yes." I said turning and the Knights started out of the ship.

* * *

"Daddy, what happened to you?!" Naomi asked as me and the others got to where she and Asuna was.

"I had to fight the boss alone." I tell her "But I'm fine now." I turn to Asuna "You need to rest, and be ready for the battle tomorrow."

"I will Sir.""

"Kirito will be joining in as well." I tell her.

"Really?" She asked in a flat tone.

"Yes. I saw him a little earlier today and he told me that if we are going to fight Laughing Coffin to message him."

"Well he is against the pkrs as much as you are."

I nod "I should have tried to take Laughing Coffin out before they attacked me so they would not expect an attack, but we have to make due. Can you walk?"

Asuna laughed a little "You're asking me that?" She says, standing "You look like you should not be walking."

"It's rare that I do something I'm supposed to." I turn to the Knights "You are all dismissed. We will meet at the HQ tomorrow. Be prepared as we will be heading to Laughing Coffin, right from there."

All the Knights responded in unison "Yes sir!" and they started to leave, some teleporting and some walking to the teleporting device.

"We will all be ready Dark. You can count on that we will avenge our fallen comrades." Asuna said before departing herself.

"Ready to head home Dark?" Sienna asked.

"Yes I- no. I need to stop off on the 50th floor."

"Why?" Lea asked.

"I need to talk to a blacksmith about an offer that he recently made to me. You can all tag along if you want." I said taking a teleport crystal from my inventory.

* * *

I walked into the shop, my party behind me.

"Cero, are you still here?"

"The door was open, wasn't it?" He said as his head popped up from under the desk "Oh, is this your party?"

"Yes they are." I say.

"I see." He notices Naomi "Don't tell me you and that girl beside you" He said gesturing to Sienna "already had a child together." He said laughing

"Sienna blushed a little "Don't be stupid..."

Doran laughed a little "I like this guy already."

"Of course you would..." Sienna said, still embarrassed.

Cero smiled a little "Well Dark, I only saw you this evening and you are back" He paused and looked over me "And more damaged then before. So why have you visited?"

My party seemed to get distracted, looking at what the shop had to offer, except Sienna who was making sure Naomi didn't get hurt with all the weapons around."

"I'm here about that offer you made me."

He laughed again "Like I said before, you need more money then you have. You may have been in a few fights since I saw you, but you can't have near the required amount."

"Tell me how much."

"All right, if you want me to. The price for me to make you a one of a kind sword, stronger then any player should have on this floor, and a sword befitting of the leader of the strongest guild in Aincrad is 1.5 million col."

"1.5 million?"

"Yes. I told you it was expensive."

"You did. But let me ask you something. How can you be sure it is a one of a kind sword?"

He smiled again "I have gotten my hands on a certain item and let's just say it is useless unless your foraging and blacksmith level is maxed out."

"And yours is, correct?"

"Yes."

"What kind of item?"

"Come." He said walking into the back room. I followed and found him standing in front of a glass case. I walked forward and saw there was a stone in the case, but it was all of the colors of a rainbow and even some unexplainable colors, and it had a glow of the same colors around it.

"What do you think?" He asked.

"It looks like it will be a really good sword."

"Yes. It will be the strongest sword I will ever make and I am saving it for you."

"Well I have to thank you for that. We beat another boss today."

"Really?"

"Yes. I had to solo it though."

"What? You soloed a floor boss by yourself?"

"It was programed like that, it had to be a solo fight, and this was the second time I had to solo one."

"You had to solo a boss before?"

"The 19th floor. Yes."

"You are a pretty amazing player you know."

"You could say that. We are going to be fighting Laughing Coffin tomorrow."

"Are you sure that is a wise choice? Won't they be expecting you?"

"Maybe." I say "Anyway Cero, I am pleased to tell you that the boss reward was a key."

"A key?"

"Yes. It unlocked a nearby door and once opened a message popped up."

"What did it say?"

"Let's just say I have enough to accept your offer twice."

"You're lying." I smile and take out 1.5 million Col, which appears as a bag and hand it to him. He taps it and his eyes widen as he reads the amount shown.

"You are telling the truth, well then Dark I am also going to request a few items from you."

I open my inventory "Then name them." He lists a few.

"The last thing I require is the three daggers that you bought. They will increase it's strength further."

I sigh "Fine, but I will need a new dagger then as well. Do not need my blade?" I ask, taking the three daggers out and handing them to him

"Not at all. This is a sword that can not be made with another blade."

"When will this sword be ready?"

"Well usually for a sword like this it would be 2 days to a week, but I can have it ready for you by tomorrow morning. Stop by before you head to the HQ and it will be ready."

"All right. I look forward to seeing your work." We both walk back to the main room and I see my party is still looking around "You may make a few more sales today as well." I say leaning against the wall.

"If that happens, I won't be unhappy about it." He told me.

* * *

As it turned out Cero had made a few sales with my party. Lea had bought a few new arrows that had a sleep effect, making enemies easy prey for Rocky to take out, Angelica got a pair of boots that made her armor weigh her down less, and Doran had got a ring, that granted him higher health regeneration. We got in the house.

"Everyone get some rest. We will need it for tomorrow." No one responded as all of our thoughts were on the upcoming battle tomorrow. Me, Sienna and Naomi head to my room and as soon as we get in I lie on the bed.

"My body hurts..." I muttered.

"You have to quit acting tough around others." Sienna said.

"I know. Naomi, tomorrow when we head to the other guild, you have to stay with someone."

"I want to come..." she pouted.

"No. This battle is way too dangerous. You are unarmed and have no armor. Myself and Sienna will have our hands full without protecting you. We want you to stay safe."

She nods sadly, giving in "Okay daddy..."

"Thank you Naomi." I say and she smiles slightly getting beside me and cuddling against me "Sienna, we should get some rest too."

"Yeah we should." She said lying beside us and smiles at Naomi before closing her eyes along with Naomi. I followed suit as I realized one thing about the battle tomorrow. I will be the target. I will be the main target, and my party will be ranked above the Knights...tomorrow is going to be a busy day full of bloodshed.

Chapter 13 Offline


	14. Chapter 14: Guild Battle

**Dark leads the Knights Of The Blood Oath to attack Laughing Coffin, but nothing ever seems to go as Dark plans, will this be the same? (Also I just read on the Sword Art Wiki that if another players kills a red player, their marker won't change since the game takes it as self defense...from now on I will add that. Also this is the longest chapter of SAO I have written, including in my first story.)**

Chapter 14 Online

Sleep did not come easily to me last night. I was tossing and turning, my mind refusing to shut down, making me think about what tomorrow would bring once the Knights Of The Blood Oath and Laughing Coffin battled. I must have fallen asleep at some point though since I opened my eyes and the room had sunlight coming through the windows. I laid there for a moment and listened to the even breathing of Naomi beside me and then realized something was off. I sat up and saw Sienna wasn't in bed, she must have awoken before me and decided to let me sleep. I stood up and walked over to one of the windows and looked out, over the huge body of water at the bottom of the cliff. I realized just now that I did not have my Shards Of Light Armor on when I had fought the boss yesterday and equipped it now, so I would not forget.

"Today the Knights Of The Blood Oath and Laughing Coffin will face head to head and many will die. In this world I have caused many deaths, be it pkers, or green players. In this world I am a mass murderer." I muttered to myself "And today the number of people that I have killed personally, or have caused by my actions will increase dramatically...maybe the Knights want revenge for Laughing Coffin targeting me by sending an assassin at me, not to mention killing a group he went with, and because the group that **I** sent to find the HQ was killed, all but Asuna, but that is still my fault." I sighed and stepped back from the window "Overcome by worry? Reminds me of my self in the real world." I opened my menu and sent a message to Kirito to come to the Knights HQ and then walked to the door, deciding to locate Sienna now when I heard a sound and I waited by the door, turning to the bed. Naomi sat up and looked to both sides of her, then looked at the door seeing me.

"Where are you going Daddy?" She asked with a yawn.

I smiled, to disguise my worry from her "To locate Sienna. I woke up a few minutes ago and noticed she was nowhere around."

"I'll come too." She said getting up and coming over to me, taking my hand in her own. We walked into the hallway and were instantly hit with a strong smell.

"What smells good?" Naomi asked, curious.

"I'm not sure." I answered "Let's see if we can find out." I say as I lead her to the stairs. We walk down and see Sienna in the kitchen area, working on something,with her back turned to us.

"Mommy!" Naomi calls out.

Sienna turns and smiles "Good Morning you two." Naomi runs over to her and Sienna leans down and hugs her. I stay in my spot, watching them. Once Sienna stands up I speak up.

"So you decided to take up cooking?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"Using the extra slot given by Naomi's passive?"

"I did. Besides I thought it would be a good skill to have since our party now has a new member." She looked down at Naomi who was listening to us talk.

"I agree with you there." I told her "Besides the fact that eating before the event today may be a good idea. Even if eating isn't needed in this world."

"That's true. Naomi, can you go and wake the others?" Sienna asked her.

"All right Mommy." she said running past me and up the stairs. As soon as Naomi is out of sight Sienna comes over, so she is right in front of me and lightly kisses me.

"You're nervous about the battle." She said, not asking.

"That's a huge understatement Sienna. I am past the point of just being nervous. Many lives are in my hands, and depending on the orders I issue will determine how many lives are saved."

"Alex, it will be fine."

"Can you see the future?" I say a little angry, immediately regretting it as Sienna takes a step back, a look of hurt on her face "Sorry..." I mutter as I step forward and hug her "I am nervous, and I didn't mean to take it out on you there. It was uncalled for."

She hugged me back "It's all right. I understand why you are nervous."

"Because many people will die, no matter which guild they are from."

"But by taking Laughing Coffin out, you may be saving many more lives then will be lost today?"

"I thought of that myself as well." I say as I let her go.

She smiles at me and then we hear a creak from upstairs "Sounds like they are up." She says going back to the kitchen area.

"Sounds like it." I agree.

* * *

We had arrived on the 55th floor and were heading to Cero's armory to retrieve my new sword from him. Doran was talking to Sienna about how great of a cook she was, but I wasn't really paying attention as I had other things on my mind.

"Are you alright?" I turned and saw Angelica had come to my side, without me even noticing, but what was more surprising was she cared if something was wrong.

"Nothing. Why?"

"You've hardly said a word since this morning."

"And usually I'm not like that, so it's only natural you would think something is wrong." I say and she stays silent, expecting me to continue "I'm nervous about the battle to come."

"That's a first. DarkBlade being nervous."

"Many lives will be lost, all caused by me or my actions."

"Then we will take them out quickly to avoid loss of life."

I smile slightly "That's the idea. We have all of the Knights along with Kirito who is a very skilled player as well. If we are lucky we will have a number or a skill advantage."

"Kirito? Like the one that beat me in that tournament?"

"The one that beat you, and me in the tournament and was the champion of it."

She let out a small sound of anger, that sounded like a growl "I need to get back at him for defeating me in our battle."

"You really can hold a grudge." I mutter "But try and hold yourself back until Laughing Coffin is dealt with."

"I'll try." She said as we arrived in front of Cero's armory. I push the door open and look around, not seeing Cero yet. I walk over to the counter and look in the back room.

"Cero, you here?"

"Yes I am." a voice said from behind me and I jumped and turned to see Cero.

"How the heck do you keep sneaking up on me?!" I half shout.

He shrugged "You make it quite easy."

"That's uncalled for." I said as my party split up now, looking around the shop for anything that may be useful to fight the pkers.

"I can guess why you are here. Ready to see your new sword?"

"I am."

"Then wait here." He told me, as he walks into the backroom. I wait for him taking a look around the shop. Hanging on the wall were many different types of swords, axes, bows, and many other types of weapons, armor on mannequins, and other clothing like boots, gloves, hats, capes, etc. The first time I was here all he had were swords, that now looked weak in comparison to what he could make now. He was serious about swords alright.

"Here we are." I turned to see Cero had returned, placing a black sword case on the counter.

"Then let's see what it looks like." Sienna came up beside me, wanting to see it as well, along with the other 4 members of our group.

"All right then." Cero unclasped the locks on the front and lifted the lid of it, revealing the sword inside. The razor sharp blade of the sword caught my eye right away, the colors seemed to shift and flow with every color that could come to mind and the sword never seemed to stay one color. My eyes then went to the hilt which seemed to a smooth, diamond color. I only now noticed the sword was a katana. For the first time in this game, and my life, a sword amazed me, and left me speechless.

"Judging from the look on your face, I'd say you like it."

I nod as I lift the sword up, placing one hand under the hilt and one under the middle of the blade, feeling the weight in my hands.

"It's... amazing." I say, managing to get my voice back "More then amazing."

"Worth the amount you paid?"

"Definitely."

"You are a talented blacksmith old man." Doran said "You amazed Dark."

Sienna giggled a little "It's quite a task to leave Dark speechless."

"I am not easily amazed." I agreed as I tapped the blade of the sword and slid my finger down, to open it's stats "These stats make me even more amazed." I say with a smile "This blade is like Unity." I say glancing at the blade Sienna had at her side "And it beats my sword with the attack it has, and give a slight boost to my overall strength and speed. What's the name of the sword?" I asked Cero.

"Glad you asked. The name of that sword is Kino, The Sword Of Hope. That sword will be the bane of pkers and will exterminate any you may come across. You, DarkBlade, Leader Of The Knights Of The Blood Oath, and Kino, The Sword Of Hope, will destroy each and every pker in this world!" He sais, as his voice got louder the further in he got.

I sigh "You are way to crazy about swords Cero, but that doesn't change the fact that I am grateful for your work."

"Take the hilt in your sword hand." Cero tells me.

I do as he says, taking the hilt in my right hand and the smooth metal starts to move under my hand, forming a perfect grip that my hands fits into.

"This sword seems to be full of surprises." I say looking down at the hilt, before placing it in a sheath at my side.

His face turned serious "Today you going to fight Laughing Coffin, correct?"

Sienna decided to move Naomi away at this point, and my other party members followed "Yes. We are going to head to the Knights HQ, and then we will head to the destination."

"You are putting yourself in a lot of trouble here."

"I know. But if we don't get rid of them, they will keep sending assassins after me, and they will continue killing. We kill them now, we stop more people losing their lives."

"But you are putting the Knights in danger too?"

"They want them dead just as much as me. They have killed a number of Knights, and no one forgives someone else that kills an ally."

"Then be careful." He answered.

"Cero...I have a favor to ask of you."

"You want me to watch the girl while you all go and fight against Laughing Coffin?"

"Yes. We can not bring her since she will be killed, or used as a hostage, and I don't want to leave her alone, in case she tries to follow us."

"You have no one else to ask?"

"No."

"Then I will watch her, on one condition."

"What is it?"

"You come back alive."

"I, no we will come back alive, no doubt."

"Good."

"I guess we should get going, wouldn't want to keep the Knights waiting."

I walked over to the door, where my party was waiting.

"Naomi, Cero is going to watch you until we return." I told her kneeling in front of her.

She nodded slowly before grabbing me suddenly and wrapping her arms around me "Daddy...I don't want you or Mommy to go, what if you both get hurt...or worse..."

I hugged her back "We have to go. I'm the leader of the guild, but I can promise you this. We will both come back alive, no matter what."

She held on to me for a moment before whispering "Promise?"

"I promise." She slowly let go of me and hugged Sienna, who has knelt down as well.

"We will return alive Naomi." She assured her.

"Okay Mommy..." She let her go and stepped back. We walked out the door, and I glanced at Naomi one last time, with a reassuring smile, as the shop door closed.

* * *

We stood outside of the HQ now and I pushed the door open, drawing the attention of the all the Knights in the building. I made no notice that I knew they were looking at me until I got to the top of the platform, along with my party. I looked out over them and thought to myself, how many of them will survive that battle today? I looked over them a moment longer and took a deep breath before I started to speak, hoping my voice would not reveal my feelings of this battle.

"As you all know, we are going to be heading to Laughing Coffin's HQ today and destroy them." Dammit...my voice was betraying me and the Knights seemed to notice it right away, but I had to keep going now "Asuna, can you come up and tell us where the HQ of Laughing Coffin is?"

"Um...yes sir." She caught on to my voice as well. She walked to the top of the platform and took my spot as I stepped back "The Laughing Coffin HQ is on the 19th floor, far to the east from where the red cross grave once stood." Great...the 19th floor...I hated that floor, even more so after I had to fight the boss alone. Asuna continued "When me and the others went there they had patrols out watching for anyone. The patrols do not attack, but run back towards the base to warn the others, and therefore if we are seen and they are not dealt with Laughing Coffin will have time to prepare for our arrival."

I walked back beside Asuna and saw the doors open and Kirito walked in and leaned against the wall, and I gave him a small nod to acknowledge him.

"So there we have it. The 19th floor is are destination, and is where our enemy is." I tell them, my voice still betraying me against my will "We will now go to the 19th floor and begin our journey there." I say taking out a teleport crystal.

* * *

The 19th floor, dark, gloomy, always night and undead creatures waiting to tear you apart. At least the monsters were weak compared to us now, and if the boss had respawned, I would have been able to handle it easily now. I waited near the hole, my party with me as always, where the door was located and I waited for all the Knights to gather so we could continue on. Once all the Knights had gathered I spoke.

"Seems we are all gathered now. So we will start on our way to Laughing Coffin." I say motioning Kirito and Asuna to the front and I started to walk. A few seconds later Kirito and Asuna came up beside me.

"You wanted something sir?" Asuna asked.

"You don't need to call me that. Dark is fine." I tell her "And I want to know if either of you ever met with the Laughing Coffin leader, or know anything about him."

"I came face to face with him once." Kirito said "I never fought him though."

"Any information from that encounter?"

"Only that his main weapon seems to be a giant cleaver."

"That's different. Asuna, any idea how many members they have, or the best way to attack their HQ?"

"To answer both of your questions, no. We were ambushed by a few of their members, not all of them, and we didn't get close enough to the HQ to look for any spots to attack from, I couldn't even tell you what it looks like, we didn't get close to it."

I sigh "So, we are going in blind to their strength and their numbers."

"Don't they have the same disadvantage?" Doran asked from behind me.

"No. The assassin they sent to kill me was most likely relaying information about our guild back to the leader. They know about me, there's no doubt about that."

"Dark..." Sienna said, coming to my other side, and gripping my arm "Are you really that nervous?"

I kept walking "I'm not that nervous."

"I can hear it in your voice, and I'm sure the Knights heard it too."

"I have to agree with her." Kirito said "Your voice just have a worried tone in it."

"Maybe I am nervous." I say, keeping my eyes straight ahead.

"Dark...you need to calm down, the guild seems you in your best mental state so you can give the best orders for them. They need your true self!" Sienna said, and that seemed to get through to me. I was nervous, but not because of the fight, but the fact that we were going head to head with another guild, and my orders could get many killed, but I never thought about how many my orders could save. I had to do what was best for the guild and to do that, I had to be the best leader I could be. I stopped and rose my free arm in the air.

"Halt the advance!" the Knights slowly obeyed stopping behind me. Sienna let my arm go and I turned to the Knights, suddenly all nervousness gone "It has come to my attention that I have not been acting as usual. I'm about to change that here and now." I cleared my throat "First off, Asuna warned us of patrols and I completely disregarded that, so to handle any patrols and monsters, I want everyone to keep their eyes open and I want archers to surround the entire company to quickly take out monsters or patrols anyone sees." The Knights quickly obeyed, arranging themselves as I said "Also we are going to be fighting enemies that resort to poisons, so if you happen to see an ally effected by any stat ailment I expect you to help them in anyway possible."I was not about to let this burst of confidence go to waste "Remember that we are facing a pking guild, so do not hesitate to kill, as they will treat you that way!" I waited a moment and drew my Kino, The Sword Of Hope, and rose it into the air above my head. "We are the Knights Of The Blood Oath and we will destroy anyone that threatens or kills anyone of our allies, or friends!" The other Knights rose their swords and cheered, deafeningly loud, "We will be victorious over Laughing Coffin! Onward!" The cheers continued for a few seconds and I moved back to the front and we continued on.

"Better Sienna?" I asked, my voice having nothing behind it now.

"Much better." She smiled, kissing my cheek.

"That was a sudden change in attitude Dark." Kirito pointed out.

"Let's just say my mind was clouded with visions of death instead of visions of the living."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Asuna asked.

"It means he was looking at what could have happened." Kirito said.

"The dark side of what could come to be, not the bright side." I clarified "We will be victorious over Laughing Coffin, but with less deaths then I first thought."

* * *

We stood in front of the Laughing Coffin HQ now it towering over us, but the odd thing was that we saw no patrols even though everyone was watching and Rocky's nose was also on the search, but nothing was seen over the flat lands of the 19th floor.

I looked up at the HQ "This is more like a castle then a HQ." I muttered.

"They don't seem to mind if anyone sees them." Lea said, being the first time today I heard her speak.

"Seems not. Now let's go through!" Angelica said, anxious as always.

"Ready?" I asked my party and Asuna and Kirito, and they all were "Prepare yourselves!" I called to the Knights as I walked forward and pushed the door open, walking into the building. I was in a dark room and couldn't see much, but I walked further in so the other Knights could come in. Suddenly the lights flipped on, momentarily blinding us, but once my vision was back I cursed. The room we were in was quite large, stairs were at the far back wall, leading to a second floor, where archers were, arrows pointed down on us and in the middle of the room, in front of us stood row, upon row of hooded swordsmen.

"Fuck...how did you know we were coming?" There was no way they would be standing like this unless they knew...did we have a traitor, or another Laughing Coffin member in the guild? Not worth thinking about now.

"We, of Laughing Coffin have our ways DarkBlade, Leader Of The Knights." As he said that, I noticed that the archers' bows all centered on me, I was their main target. I took a few steps forward, bows and arrowheads following me.

"Now, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to speak to your leader directly." I say to the swordsmen that spoke before.

"Master PoH does not wish to be disturbed. We will handle you horde of pests without the master."

"PoH? That's his name? So there is no way we can convince you to let us pass?" I ask with a slight smirk.

"As long as we are living, you shall not pass us!"

"Well, we can change that." I say as I snap my fingers and all of the bowmen of the Knights reveal that their bows were loaded as all focus was on me and many swordsmen had readied sword skills "Fire!" I shout as arrows and sword skills fly upon the archers "The battle has began! Attack!"

* * *

Most of the enemy archers had been taken down from our first attack, but some still remained and made a point of ignoring our archers to fire arrows at me, but I easily dodged as our archers kept up their assault on them and our swordsmen clashed with theirs as they ran towards me. I watched as the battle started realizing we were pretty evenly matched with numbers, give or take a few in their favor.

"Let's just hope we can manage this." I say as I take a few steps towards the battle before two hooded members come out at me, both slashing their swords at the same time. I blocked both slashes and jumped back, starting to ready a sword skill, before a third one broke from the crowd and ran at me. I jumped back as his sword came down.

"Dammit, this is not going to be an easy fight if I am targeted by multiple enemies." I muttered to my self. I readied a skill again, as all three ran at me, hoping to break my focus, and damage me. I waited and at the last second I unleashed it.

"Flame Whip!" Since they had gotten within swords length of me before I unleashed my skill, my flaming sword cut into their skin first, then launched them, along with my whip across the room and away from me. As I watched them fly across the room a throwing knife was thrown at me and it cut my cheek. A poison status appeared under my name as a purple skull with black X's as eyes. I turned and saw the lone assailant and ran at him, grabbing his neck and pinning him to the wall.

"Don't come at me or attack me alone." I say as I place my sword tip to his forehead and the blade down from there, edge facing him "Flaming Edge!" My sword burst into flame, burning him slightly before the wave shot out, cutting him in half, killing him instantly. My right hand started to glow, or the ring on my finger started to since I killed a player.

"It's going to glow a lot more then that by the end of today." I opened my inventory and while avoiding a few arrows I took out an antidote and drank it to cure my poison

"Dark!" Lea came up to me riding Rocky "The enemy archers have almost been taken out."

"Good, get the archers aim carefully and to shoot the Laughing Coffin members, and if you or any of the archers can, get up where the other archers were and fire from there."

"Understood!" She said as she ran back to the archers.

"Now that's one problem off my mind." I mutter as I turn and find the three Laughing Coffin members that I had sent across the room survived and were now standing in front of me again "You three never give up, do you?" I ask as I get into a stance. All three run at me again, one from right in front, one a little to my right and one a little to my left. My blade isn't long enough to block all three attacks. I wait and figure something out. Their speeds are different. The one coming at my front and the one to my right will arrive at about the same time, but the one on the left was a little slower, so I had to do this with no mistake. The middle one and one to my right both swung at me and I moved my body just enough to avoid the right slash as I block the middle one.

"Now, for this." I push his sword to my right, with full force, driving his blade into the right one's chest. I then kick the middle one in the chest, knocking him down, leaving the blade in the right one. I turn and parry the left one now, who just got close and I disarm him with a quick downward slash to his wrist. I move back and my sword burst into flames again as I look at their health bars. They were all low from my first strike on them, my next strike would end all three.

"Dragon's Rapid Flame!" I appeared above the one on the ground, stabbing my sword into his skull, then I appeared behind the one with a blade in his chest, my sword in his chest, beside the one he was already impaled with and finally I appear in front of the one I disarmed and I stab into his chest. I jump back as all three burst and pixels fill the air.

* * *

**Just a note: Dragon's Rapid Flame is Dark's normal Dragon Flame but the only difference is that he has a little more speed thanks to Kino and therefore he is able to target more then one enemy with it, but it is a lot weaker then Dragon Flame since he doesn't keep the sword in them as long, so it is just a revised version I guess you could say**

* * *

I tried to observe the battle, but I'm stopped as the swordsmen that I was talking to at first, who I assumed was the head swordsman attacked me. I blocked the strike easily, but couldn't push it away for an easy strike. Our swords stayed connected, both of us pushing against the other, neither of us making any progress.

"You were trying to observe the battle, am I right?" He asked.

"You are." I answer shortly.

"Let me explain how the battle is going. Your Knights are losing. They are falling to our poisons and our blades. Each and everyone of us are trained assassins. Your Knights count on their brute force and therefore fall to our tactics and quick movements." I jumped back and he waited as I looked at the fight. Some of what he said was true, and the Laughing Coffin members out numbered us further now.

"Dammit." I muttered before realizing I was surrounded by about 10, including the head swordsman, Laughing Coffin members "Surrounding me? Unfair play is a pkers best friend, correct?"

"Maybe that's true."

"I may be surrounded, but you can't cut off my voice from the others." I say, before taking a breath shouting out "Everyone you need to group up and fight!" from my small glance at the battle I realized that the Laughing Coffin members were fighting in a group against some Knights, therefore overwhelming them "You need to match their group number" I paused as one of the 10 slashed at me and I parried the strike "And fight as a team. Do not take them on in a one vs one or" I paused again as another one tried to stab me and I deflected the strike, delivering a stab of my own, piercing his stomach and I moved back "You will die. Now hurry and group up with the others! I will" I pause again as 3 run at me on behind, one from the front and one from my right and I do a spin, my sword held out, disarming one, and pushing the other two strikes away and I readied a skill "I will handle this group alone!" I unleashed my skill, and spun again "Cutting Barrage!" The waves went out at the 10 surrounding me and added to my comment but only to myself and my enemies "I will handle this group alone, easily." As I say the last word pixels came from behind me and to my left, leaving 6 members left against me.

"You are quite a foe." The head swordsman said, walking towards me, as he drops his sword and opens his menu, equipping a different sword, the blade as red as blood and hilt looking as if blood was dripping off it, in his other hand he held a dagger, a dagger I had seen before.

"How do you have one of those?" I said in a low, angry growl.

"You should be able to guess that, DarkBlade, enemy of Demise." The dagger he held was an Expired Light Dagger, Demise's trademark.

"Demise is dead now." I answered simply.

"Demise is dead." He agreed "Which is why I joined this guild."

"You really think you have a chance to defeat me? I'm not as weak as you think."

"Maybe not as weak in the real world anyway."

I looked at him, a confused look on my face "What do you mean by that?"

"You may not be weak as you are in the real world, Alex."

My heart skipped a beat as he said my name "Who the fuck are you?!" I shouted, as my hand tightened around my hilt.

"Alex, quick to anger as always." He flipped off his hood to reveal a male, about a few years older then me with blond hair, and brown eyes, a scar across his forehead "It's been a while, Alex McLean."

I never expected this to happen...ever.

"It has been Daniel." I muttered. He wasn't a friend, but he was my cousin.

"Is that anyway to greet family Alex? With sword drawn?"

"If that family happens to be a murderer, and is going to try and kill you, then it is the only way." My cousin...I should have guessed he would have gotten this game...he has always been into games, but what a way to meet him. Then again, to be honest I never really liked him.

"Well it is true, we have met as enemies."

"Why did you join Demise, and then Laughing Coffin?"

"Do answers really matter to you Alex? You will be dead soon."

"So you really do intend to kill me. I want answers."

"Fine. I joined Demise for a simple reason. I wanted to kill and when I found out this was a death game, that just increased my lust for killing."

"You're a messed up person." I said glaring at him.

"Have you ever felt it? How it feels to have power over another human? How it feels to hear them beg for their life, or how it feels to hear the sounds of agony as some one sees their loved ones killed in front of the?" That last one caused something inside of me to snap. Sienna had lost someone close to her and hearing him say that caused sudden anger. I ran at him and slashed at him, and he blocked it easily with both of his blades.

"You seem surprised that I was going to kill you, yet you will do the same to me?" He asked.

"You are a messed up person. My friend lost her best friend. She will never forget the pain she felt because of it, and you want to inflict this upon more people? I don't care if you are family, you don't deserve life!" I shout as I move back "Cutting Edge!" I shoot the wave at him.

"Twilight Wave!" A brownish wave flew at mine, both stopping the other.

"So you know some skills as well."

"I do. Also, I joined Laughing Coffin for the sole purpose of killing you after you destroyed Demise. I even gave PoH the idea of sending an assassin at you, knowing you would either be killed, or you would attack us where I could kill you personally."

"You are the one that thought of that? How were you so sure that we would attack?"

"I know you Alex. You are quick to anger, you are reckless, I knew your moves."

"You knew me more then a year ago. I'm 17 now, and I have changed a lot in this pass year. True that I attacked here, but that's because I despise people like you, and want no more innocents to lose their lives!"

"Then how about you show me the resolve." He said as he rose a palm and then made a fist, causing the other 5 swordsmen around me to charge. I stabbed my sword into the ground and cut through the floor to make a circle around me, stabbing my sword into the ground in front of me, and waited.

As soon as they get close, one of them even stepping over the line I activate it "Barrier!" 4 of them run into the blue force field, but the one that stepped over the line was cut clear in half, killing them "You pkers are like monsters, so easy to kill." I glance at the battle and see that the numbers have balanced but as I see my party's health bars I start to worry. Angelica was at about a quarter, Doran half but Sienna had just entered the red zone and I had no idea where Lea had gone. I could only hope that they healed soon." I made my barrier disappear as I looked at the four around me. They all ran at me, from different angles. I blocked one blade with mine pushing it away quickly, only able to stop one more, picking to protect my right arm and turning to stop the right sword, feeling the other two enter my left arm and my back, before realizing my mistake as a poison status and a paralysis status appeared. I felt my body start to numb and I opened my inventory, with my damaged left arm and took out a potion to heal both status. I pushed the one I had my sword against back then turned to the one now on my left and stabbed into his stomach as I was about to drink the potion.

"Twilight Wave!" Daniel shot the wave toward me, and his ally. The wave pushed his ally at me, knocking me off balance before the wave cut through his ally and continued along it's path to my neck. I moved quickly, but the wave still connected, but not with my neck. His ally burst and I quickly drank the potion now, healing me. I checked my bar and saw it was at half. I got to my knees, my left hand over my now damaged right eye.

"You killed your own ally?" I asked, surprised.

"He was of no use. His death made me able to damage your eye."

"Killing your allies...pkers have no pride, do they?"

"Who knows?" He asks glancing at the battle "That fast girl with the rapier and the red health bar." I turned and saw he was talking about Sienna, who still hadn't healed "She's the friend you mentioned before, but the correct term, going by the ring on her finger would be wife, am I right?"

"Does it matter?" I ask, standing up.

"It does, because if so I am going to make her notice as you take your last breath so she sees another loved one die and I can hear her sounds of agony before I kill her as well."

"You touch her...and I will kill you!" I say angrily as the three swordsmen left block my path to Daniel.

"You will be dead before I touch her Alex, you don't suffer like she will." I dashed at the three swordsmen, before making a sharp turn as I ran at Daniel.

"Fell for the bait again Alex." He said as I swung down at him and he knocked me off balance with a well aimed hit to the tip of my sword "It ends here Alex, my cousin." He pulled his sword back and stabbed it directly into my stomach. The pain of my torn skin, with the sword completely through me, left me shocked and unable to react right away. I saw my health was draining, but I wasn't dead yet. I gripped my sword tightly and just as I was about to push it into Daniel's chest a second sword stabbed through my back, causing my grip to loosen on my sword again, and my body refusing to do as I want. One of the three remaining swordsmen walk in front of me, stabbing a second sword through my stomach as the last one joined the one behind me, impaling me with a fourth sword. I still held my sword as my health drained, and I knew I would not live through this. I made a fatal mistake. Time seemed to slow as my thoughts raced. My mind flashed back to Cero's shop and the promise I made to him and Naomi, and how it was a promise I would be unable to keep, my thoughts then went to Sienna, my love and now wife, and thought of how my death would effect her, hoping she would be able to avenge me, and survive to take care of Naomi and most of all help the others escape. My party...Lea and Doran will be upset, but Angelica will probably get mad at me for dying, and hopefully the Knights will continue fighting and will manage to take Laughing Coffin down in my stead. Finally my thoughts drifted to the real world. My family will no doubt miss me when they find out I have died, but they will get over my death and move on sooner or later. My thoughts finally returned to the present as time resumed normal speed.

"Behold! The leader of the Knights Of The Blood Oath's death!" Daniel shouted, calling everyone's attention to us. All fighting ceased as Knights and Pkers alike turned to see four swords impaled through me. Silence filled the room as my health reached close to 0.

"You bastards!" Doran shouted, furious, more angry then I have ever seen him.

"Dark's...been beat..." Lea muttered from the bannisters and Rocky let out a whine.

"Dark you can't be beat by people like them!" Angelica shouted at me.

Sienna was stunned as she watched my health drain "Dark..." She whispered, I only knew she said it since I read her lips "DARK! You can't die! You made a promise to Naomi and Cero! You can't leave me!" She shouted at me now

I tried to say something, coughing a little before replying in a weak voice, that was clearly heard in the silent room "My game is over...I am truly sorry Sienna...I love you. I ask you all to...win..." my health drained to 1 and suddenly stopped. Daniel noticed and twisted his sword.

"Die!" He shouted "Why won't you die!?" my vision completely faded for a moment, but as it returned all I saw was red and all I felt was unbearable rage. I let out a strange sound, like a battle cry as I lost control of my body. I stabbed my sword into the swordsmen in front of me, pulling Kino upwards, tearing his body in half, and with out waiting for him to die I flipped my sword so the tip was pointing behind me and I stabbed into the man's stomach and forced my sword down, tearing it from his groin, before swinging my left elbow back, connecting with a face, knocking the last one other then Daniel down. My other hand made a fist as I punched Daniel in the face and to the ground. I then shot a wave, like my Cutting Edge at the one I elbowed. This all took place in 5 seconds, but it seemed like 5 minutes to me. I walked over to Daniel and lifted him up by the neck and he stabbed his Expired Light into my shoulder.

"Die!" He shouted.

"You may be my cousin." I say gaining a little control "but people that enjoying making people suffer, deserve to die, and are the lowest beings on earth, lower then even insects. Now you can die!" I say bringing my sword up and through his head, twisting it before pulling it from the front of his face, shattering the skull as I do and he falls and bursts, dead. I pull the Expired Light from my shoulder and walk to a wall. The room is in a shocked silence as I do. I place my hand on the wall and feel my body give out and suddenly all was black.

* * *

I heard voices. Some worried, some angry and then I heard the clashing of swords. Most likely it is a dream, or something happening around me, not that I could anything about either. I listened as much as I could but could not make out any words, but only the tones of the voices. A message appeared in the darkness of my closed eyes '**Unique Skill: Last Stand. This move will render the user Immortal for a short time and fill them with rage towards their enemies. This skill is a unique skill, unable to be learned by any others. This skill has a cooldown of 6 months' **as soon as I read it the message disappeared. Suddenly I felt a hand touch my chest and my body tensed up. I heard a whispering near my ear, and could make out the words.

"Dark, you have to wake up." As if the words were a command my eyes slowly opening, as memories and the pain of my body came upon me suddenly. As I opened my eyes my vision was blurred and I slowly moved one hand up to rub my eyes to clear my vision. I saw Sienna leaning over me and she had a look of pure belief on her face and her eyes were wet.

"Dark...you're okay!" She said as she hugged me, causing intense pain to shoot through my body.

"Sienna, that hurts..."

"Oh...sorry." She said pulling back.

"It's fine..." The voices became clearer and I heard they were the Laughing Coffin members angry at me for what I did and the Knights fighting back. I looked around and saw the remaining Knights had surrounded me and Sienna, holding off any member trying to get to us. I glanced at my health bar, still at 1 and then at Sienna.

"As soon as you passed out Laughing Coffin changed their priority to you. They wanted you dead, but the Knights were faster and protected you." Sienna said, her body shaking slightly. I pushed myself up, so my back was against the wall and I kissed Sienna lightly on the lips.

"I'm slowly I scared you. I made a mistake and it almost cost me my life...I should have been more careful."

She nodded but hugged me tightly again, but I ignored the pain this time "You really did scare me...and everyone else. We thought you were going to die."

"I should be dead..." I muttered to her "I was saved by a new skill...what I'm wondering is what made it reveal it's self to me now?"

"A new skill?"

"A unique skill. One that only I can use apparently. It prevented me from losing my last health point and allowed me to kill the last four that stood against me. One being my own cousin." I told her, as I opened my inventory, taking a potion out and drinking it, restoring my health.

"You cousin? Like from the real world?"

"Yes. My oldest cousin. I took away my aunt's son, and my two other cousins have now lost a son."

"You had no-"

"I know. I had control when I dealt the final strike, I knew what I was doing and if I didn't kill him, he would have killed me." I say taking another potion out and drinking another one to further increase my health, but not numbing the pain of 4 swords stabbing through me.

She changed the subject quickly "We have taken many members of Laughing Coffin down now as well. We have this battle won now." She said smiling.

"The Leader?"

"He hasn't revealed himself yet, but he won't be able to defeat us now."

"That's true. We out number him now." I agree as I try to stand, but end up falling again.

"Alex, just relax now, the Knights will finish the rest."

I nod and place Kino down beside me "All right." The fight continued on for a while and me and Sienna waited. Finally it seemed Laughing Coffin moved back and the Knights still stood around me. Suddenly a door slammed open and a voice filled the room.

"Seems as though the members of my guild are even more useless then I first thought." I forced myself up, hurting myself but I moved through the Knights until I got to the front to see a man standing at the top of the stairs, a giant cleaver in hand. He was the leader. He came to the bottom of the stairs and the Laughing Coffin members moved so he could see the Knights, and myself.

"Which one of you is the Knights Of The Blood Oath's leader?"

I took a step forward, stumbling slightly "That would be me."

"I saw the whole battle you had with my head swordsman, thanks to the cameras I set up. You wouldn't die no matter what he did. I'll do what he couldn't. I challenge you to a one on one fight."

"I accept." I say, knowing this is not going to be easy in my state. Damaged and one eye useless at the moment.

"Dark, you can't fight him alone!" Kirito said coming beside me "You're in no shape to fight him."

"Refuse him and give the order to attack." Asuna said.

I ignored them and stepped towards him, and the Laughing Coffin members moved to stop then Knights.

"Follow me." He says walking to a door near the stairs and I stagger after him. He opens the door and walks in, and I follow him. The light turns on to reveal a fair sized room, with nothing in the room expect a window in the back "This is where we shall do battle."

"Ready when you are."

"You say that, but looking at your body I would have to disagree with you. You took quite a beating from my head swordsman."

"And I killed my cousin for that reason."

"Cousin? He was your cousin? That means you just killed one of your family, you are quite a heartless killer, aren't you?"

"He deserved to die, just like you do!" I say pointing Kino at him, and stumbling again.

"You seem to be in a bad state, which will make this much easier." He said running at me, before swinging his cleaver at me and I block it with Kino, but the jolt from the swords clashing sends a wave of pain through my body and I take few steps back before he attacks again, and I block this strike as well, once again hurting myself again. He smiles as he produces a dagger from his other hand and slashes at my face cutting my cheek. I move back and stab towards him, but he stops it with the wide side if the cleaver.

"You aren't going to be able to beat me in that state." He tells me coming close to me and I bring my sword from the side, but he brings the blade of his sword at my sword hand, cutting it and casing me to drop it. He swings the side of the cleaver at my face, hitting me hard and against the door. I fall to my knees, my body unable to hold me up anymore.

"Going to kill me now?" I asked, realizing how big of a mistake this was.

He walks over and stands over me "No. You aren't even worth fighting in this state. I could kill you now, but it doesn't really matter. You and your Knights have achieved victory, and Laughing Coffin is finished here. If I kill you The Knights Of The Blood Oath will hunt for me and I prefer living."

"So you don't care that we killed the members of your guild?"

"They were merely pawns. Besides I never said I wouldn't come and fight you when you are healed. So watch your back." He walked over to the window "I'll take my leave now, with some advice for you. Never trust anyone." He said as he shattered the window and jumped out. I hated letting him escape, but if I tried to stop him I would have died. I crawled over to where Kino was and I picked it up, leaning against the wall. Another 20 minutes or so passed before the door opened and my party came in, followed by the Knights.

"Good you're okay." Sienna said hugging me "But don't be so stupid."

"We killed all of the bastards." Doran said, still angry at them.

"Did you take the leader down?" Lea asked

I shook my head "In my state I was unable to do anything. He could have killed me, but he escaped instead saying we were victorious."

"So the leader is still alive?" Angelica smiled "Then I could kill him and become known as the one that finished off Laughing Coffin."'

I didn't respond to her, turning to the Knights "We have suffered major losses in this battle, and many of us have taken injuries, but we have defeated Laughing Coffin, the largest pking guild! No other pkers will ever oppose us now!" The Knights cheered and I continued, with orders for tomorrow "Tomorrow, you can take a day off or do whatever you want. Tomorrow I am going to take the time to heal. You are all dismissed, and I thank you all for the work you have done today." They smiled and started to talk among each other. I turn to Sienna.

"Well let's go and pick Naomi up."

* * *

We used a teleport crystal to get to the 55th floor, but could hardly walk at all. Doran offered me this shoulder so I would be able to stay standing.

"How did you live through those last few strikes?" Lea asked "We thought you were going to die."

"A unique skill...it stops my health from going to 0 no matter what happens, makes me do whatever is need to kill my enemies and has a cooldown of half a year."

"You had a skill like that and never told us of it?" Doran asked.

"I had no idea I had something like that. I only found out when I almost died. Lucky for me though."

"But why did you get it?" Angelica asked, sounding a little envious.

"I don't know...but hopefully I won't have to use it again, at least for six months."

"Just don't be as careless as you have been." Sienna said, smiling, now back to how she normally was when I didn't almost die.

"I won't, don't worry." We got to the door of Cero's armory "Let's hope my state doesn't upset Naomi." Sienna opened the door and we walked in and almost immediately Naomi came from the back room, followed by Cero. Naomi smiled as she saw Sienna.

"Mommy!" she ran towards her and she knelt down to catch Naomi in her arms.

"We're back." She told her as she held her in a hug.

She nodded then looked at me, noticing the wounds I had "Daddy...what happened?"

"I got hurt in the fighting...I seemed to be the main target."

"...Are you going to be okay?" She asked innocently.

"I will. Just need a little time to heal."

She nods "At least you both made it back." she said with a smile.

Cero came up behind her "You look like you took quite a beating Dark."

"I did. They wanted to take me down."

"Understandable. So how did Kino work out for you?"

"It helped. I was capable of taking out quite a few members before I angered and rushed in, resulting in four swords getting stabbed into me."

"So any plans for what you are going to do tomorrow?"

"Yes. Relax and heal. I'm close to useless at the moment."

"So heal up and then continue your joruney?"

"That's the plan...anyway I think we better go or I may pass out." I say with a joking tone "Thanks for looking after Naomi."

"Dark, before that, can you walk a little by yourself?"

"I think so." I say removing my arm from Doran's shoulder, my legs unsteady.

"I need to talk to you privately." He said walking to the counter.

"I'll be fine, you can wait outside." I tell my body, staggering my way over to the counter.

"While I was watching Naomi she started to ask me questions about swords and the armor I'm selling and this is just a suggestion, but maybe you should give her a chance to fight as well. I think she could be a very talented sword user."

"Sienna wouldn't like that..." I open my inventory and take some col out and whisper something into his ear.

"That could work." He smiled as he got the two items I asked for and gave them to me and I put them in my inventory.

"Now I thank you for telling me of that, and now I have to go before my body fails on me." I say walking to the door.

"All right, see you later Dark."

* * *

We got to the house and Sienna helped me upstairs as the others split off.

"Alex, you are so helpless right now."

"I know...doesn't help that my body feels weaker either..."

"Well as long as you can get to your bed it will be fine."

"I won't pass out yet." I responded, hoping it was the truth. She pushed the door opened and we walked in Naomi behind us and as soon as we got close to the bed Sienna moved my arm from her neck.

"Can you lie down yourself."

"I'm not completely useless." I say as I sit, then lie down as my eyes close unwillingly as I fall asleep suddenly.

Chapter 14 Offline

* * *

**Realized in my other SAO story I never explained how Dark managed to survive despite the fact that his health reached 0. Pretty much the small section I had about a lone figure right after Dark died was meant to be ****Kayaba Akihiko, who spared Dark because of the effort he put into the game and all he did for his team mates. There were a few clues as to what had happened like when Kayaba was defeated by the other members of the party he said something along the lines of effort being rewarded and the other clue was when Dark confronted Sienna at the graveyard and said "Seems like there was judgment after all in the game." referring to the fact that he was judged by Kayaba Akihiko, and was spared by him instead of being 'killed, but he had no access to the floors and was in a confined area. In other words I had this whole thing planned but I never really got around to explaining it until now.**


	15. Chapter 15: Naomi's Training

Chapter 15 Online

No dreams came to me in my sleep and nothing pierced my dreams form the outside, including pain from the many wounds my body had, but when I awoke I was aware since my body was not doing as I willed it. I was on my stomach and rolled onto my back, realizing I was alone in my bed. I was guessing from the time, as I woke up early as always, Sienna and Naomi slept in one of the other two free rooms since they didn't want to distribute me. I grabbed the bedpost and pulled myself into a sitting position and then tried to stand up, which turned out to be a bad idea. As soon as I put weight on my legs by collapsed under me, bringing me to my knees onto the floor.

"Great...now what?" I asked myself pulling myself back onto the bed "Looks like I'll be stuck in this bed for a while." I muttered as I sat with my back against the headboard. About 20 minutes later Sienna came in and smiled as she saw I was awake.

"Good Morning Alex."

"Morning." I responded.

"Feeling any better today?"

"Nope." I say with a sigh "I tried standing and a moment later I was on the ground."

"So I guess this is where you will be most of the day?"

"Most likely. Also before you offer to, I don't need you to stay with me."

"You knew I was going to?"

"Yes I did." I smile "I gave everyone permission to do as they feel. Don't let me hold you back."

"But Alex-"

"No buts. Go out and do whatever you want. Leave Naomi here too if you want, she won't be any trouble."

"I can't leave her with you. You're not even able to stand up!"

"Sienna, despite what you think." I grab the bed post and get into a sitting position again "In this state I am not completely useless. Besides it will give me and Naomi time to bond." I say the last part with a slight laugh.

"Bonding time when you are stuck in bed?" She giggled a little "I don't think that would work."

"You are most likely right, but despite that Sienna, I am giving you a chance to take a day to do anything you want and to be alone. This may be the one and only chance you get an offer like this."

She seemed to be thinking for a moment "Are you sure it would be okay though?" She asked, giving in a bit.

"I'm sure. Nothing bad will happen."

She nods and then after a moment responds "Will you message me if something goes wrong?"

"Of course Sienna." I answer.

She smiled and kisses me "Then I will accept your offer Alex."

"All right. Make sure Naomi knows of the plan as well."

"I will. Be careful when we'll gone though Alex."

"Don't worry, I will be. Enjoy your day." I say as Sienna nods and leaves the room.

* * *

About an hour later the bedroom door swings open and Naomi comes in with a smile.

"I'm guessing the others are gone now?"

She nods "Yeah, they just left." She walks over and sits on the bed "Are you okay Daddy?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just not able to move very freely at the moment."

"Did you kill the one that hurt you like this?"

"It wasn't only one person, but yes I did." She looked over me, like she was making sure I was okay "Honest." I add.

"Okay...if you say so."

"Anyway, onto a different matter. I heard from Cero you were really interested in swords and you want to try and fight, is that true?"

She looked down, like she was a kid caught stealing and whispered "Yes Daddy...I'm sorry..."

"Sorry for what? Nothing is wrong with it, but you do know that it is very dangerous, right?"

"I know...but I want to fight and help protect you and mommy."

I nod "That's understandable. You are worried about us, which is why I have something planned today. But you are not to tell Sienna, okay?"

She looks at me confused and then slowly nods "Okay..."

I open my inventory and take out a green vial "This may be a bad choice, but oh well." I open it and drink the contents and instantly I feel the pain 'fade'.

"What was that you just drank?"

"It's a potion of sorts. It numbs pain for a while." I say as I stand up, no pain going through my body "I will feel it later I'm sure. For now, come with me." I say walking down the stairs and outside. She follows me. I opened my inventory and equip a wooden sword and also equip one to Naomi. She looks at it, startled and I start to explain.

"I am not going to allow you to fight monsters with no experience. So I am going to teach you how to fight with these."

She smiles "Really?"

"Yes really. Now come at me and swing downwards at me."

She does as she is told and I block the strike easily and she tries again right away, but it is once blocked.

"You are not yet use to the weight of your blade. Once you get use to it you will be able to use more force and more speed in your strikes. Now I want you to try and block my strikes, I will not use much force though." She readied herself and I did a slow downward strike and she held the sword up, both hands under it. I tapped her sword "Good."

She smiled "How much will I have to train before I can come with you?"

"That depends on two things. 1: How much time we can find to train you and 2: How fast you develop your skills."

"So if I develop them quickly, I will be able to come sooner?"

"There's still one other problem, and that's how to convince Sienna that you will be able to fend for yourself, she tends to worry about you a lot." I tell her.

She gives me a smile "I'm sure we will be able to convince Mommy when the time comes. What's next for my training?"

I smile to myself and respond "Come at me with full strength and try to land a hit on me. I won't fight back at this point, but I will defend."

"Right!" She closed the small gap between us and swung at me from the side and I blocked it easily. She tried to catch me off guard by coming from the other side, but she wasn't fast enough and I stopped that strike with ease as well. She continued trying to land a strike on me for another few minutes before she grew exhausted and sat down.

"I can't land a single hit on you..." she complained.

"I didn't expect you too. Every once in a while we will do that again and we will see how much you improve." I open my equipment tap and check her's as well "We may have to get you some armor so you won't get any bruises that Sienna may see and so you can get use to it's weight." I noticed Naomi also had a sword skill tab and I opened it, but saw it was empty "You may also learn some new skills in time as well." Before she could respond a message appeared in front of me. I tapped it and saw it was from Sienna. I tapped the message and read it our loud.

**To Dark**

**I know you told me not to worry, but I hope everything is going well and Naomi isn't causing you to much trouble. Anyway, I decided to check out the new floor so we would have an idea of it's layout. It's like a medieval city, castle and all, but it's all in ruins and the floor is named City Of Ruins, so this city may be the only one on the floor like we have seen before, but there are no npcs at all as far as I have seen. There has been a few monsters, but they aren't that strong and as of now I am unaware of where the boss lurks. Anyway, that's basically all I have to say and I will see you and Naomi when I return.**

**Love, Sienna.**

"Seems as if she's making progress." I said after closing the message.

"Um...you told me not to say anything to Mommy...but since she is usually with us, when will we be able to train?"

"Either early morning, or late at night. Don't worry, we will get in as much training time as we can."

She smiled and suddenly ran at me, hoping to get a surprise attack. I merely shook my head as I blocked, yet another, strike.

* * *

Fucking hell. That's the only way to describe the pain I was in now. It wasn't from being hit by a wooden sword since I managed to block all the strikes, but from the wounds I had taken from Laughing Coffin and the potion I took that numbs pain. My whole body felt like it was burning from the inside and the outside at the same time. The pain never dimmed, but was a constant, flaming pain and it was hard to believe I could bare it. I kinda wish I was dead so I wouldn't have to feel this type of pain anymore, but this would be over soon and then I would realize how stupid I was even thinking it would be better if I was dead. I have avoided death many times, and any time I could have allowed death to come take me, but no pain would drive me to the point. Yet as bad as the pain was, by sunset approached the pain faded and I was able to sit up again.

"Felling better now Daddy?" Naomi asked me, she had been with me the entire time even through the time I was unable to really do anything through the pain.

"I am. Hopefully it stays that way now. Besides no matter how I am tomorrow I need to go with the others and check the new floor out."

"Where am I going to be?"

"You will be with us. Sienna said only weak monsters appeared so protecting you will be no added stress."

She smiled wide at that "Okay Daddy." A moment later I heard the front door open and close.

"They'll home now." I pointed out "Remember, no mention of the training me and you did to anyone, even more so Sienna."

"I know Daddy. I won't say a word."

"Good girl. Now go and see how they did." She nodded and ran down the stairs. I couldn't help but smile to myself as I realized what I was doing now. I'm training mine and Sienna's adopted child in sword fighting so she can come with us and fight alongside us...but then came the depressing thought. She will fight alongside us, but will be unable to join us when we return to our word. I pushed that thought from my mind as I heard the footsteps of my party come upstairs. No need to dwell on is going to happen and enjoy the present.

Chapter 15 Offline

**Short, I am aware but it was a needed chapter to improve Naomi. So this chapter was absolutely needed.**


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